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WHEN CHRIST 
COMES AGAIN 



BY 



GEORGE P. ECKMAN 



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I . • 



SECOND EDITION 
REVISED AND ENLARGED 



THE ABINGDON PRESS 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI 



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Copyright, 1917, 1918, by 
GEORGE P. ECKMAN 






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MAR 25 1918 



The Bible text used in this volume is taken from the American 
Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by Thomas 
Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. 






CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. Approach to the Doctrine 7 

II. True Place of the Theme 23 

III. Christ's Great Prophecy of His 

Second Coming 50 

IV. How and Why Is Christ Coming 

Again ? 77 

V. When Is Christ Coming Again ? 98 

VI. What Is Christ Doing Now ? 118 

VII. What Shall We Do Till Christ's 

Return ? 136 

VIII. Is the World Growing Better?. . . . 158 

IX. What About the Millennium ? 204 

X. Millennial Fancies and Fallacies . . 236 

XI. Prophecy and the Second Advent. . . 266 

XII. The Signs of the Times 302 

Appendix 343 



CHAPTER I 
APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 

This is a plain book for plain people. 

It was conceived in prayer and born of a 
desire to be helpful to the souls of men. 

Many devout persons are troubled about the 
second coming of our Lord. They are eager to 
know what they ought to believe, rather than 
to be told what they ought not to believe. 

The author of this little book has spent 
many years in the pastorate, and has been 
near to the people. He has written what he 
believes they need, and he asks God to bless 
his message to their spiritual profit. 

He has no selfish purpose to serve. He does 
not care for reputation. His only concern is 
truth. He writes from a deep conviction. He 
feels himself goaded to his task by the Holy 
Spirit. 

One of the greatest thinkers among men 
admitted that "he regarded as his best friend 
the man who robbed him of his dearest error 
and put despised truth in its place." The 
surest way to bestow this favor is to set the 
truth openly before the face of error. Jesus 

7 



8 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
shall make you free." 1 This is a principle 
which applies not only to the truth which 
saves from sin, but also to the truth which 
liberates the mind from falsehood. 

Therefore this little book is built upon the 
Scriptures, and not upon the imagination of 
man. It also takes into account the facts of 
human experience, which never contradict the 
Scriptures, if both are accurately understood. 
"For we did not follow cunningly devised 
fables, when we made known unto you the 
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 

Men may be very brilliant, and at the same 
time very misleading. Every writer on reli- 
gious themes should regard the warning of 
Saint Paul : "Take heed lest there shall be any 
one that maketh spoil of you through his phi- 
losophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of 
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not 
after Christ." 3 

Right Use of the Bible 

The Bible must be used frankly, nothing 
being taken away from it which belongs to it, 
and nothing added to it which does not belong 



1 John 8. 32. 

2 2 Peter 1. 16. 

3 Colossians 2. 8. 



APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 9 

to it. Teachers of the Scriptures must be able 
to say with Saint Paul : "We have renounced 
the hidden things of shame, not walking in 
craftiness, nor handling the word of God de- 
ceitfully/' 4 

The Bible is the most abused book in the 
world. It receives its worst treatment from 
certain persons who call themselves its friends. 
It has nothing to fear from its open enemies. 
"For 

All flesh is as grass, 

And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. 
The grass withereth, and the flower f alleth : 
But the word of the Lord abideth forever. 
And this is the word of good tidings which was 
preached unto you." 5 "The word of God is not 
bound" 6 by those who willfully seek to hem it 
in. The infidel cannot harm the Bible. No 
science can upset it. The vain philosophy of 
men cannot disturb it. "For seeing that in 
the wisdom of God the world through its wis- 
dom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure 
through the foolishness of the preaching to 
save them that believe. Because the foolish- 
ness of God is wiser than men ; and the weak- 
ness of God is stronger than men." 7 

But the influence of the Bible can be injured 



* 2 Corinthians 4. 2. 6 2 Timothy 2. 9. 

* 1 Peter 1. 24, 25. 7 1 Corinthians 1. 21, 25. 



10 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

by those of its alleged friends who either pur- 
posely or unwittingly pervert its teachings. 
There are in it "some things hard to be under- 
stood, which the ignorant and unstedfast 
wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, 
unto their own destruction." 8 But the learned 
also fall into this grievous wrongdoing, forget- 
ting "that no prophecy of scripture is of pri- 
vate interpretation. For no prophecy ever 
came by the will of man : but men spake from 
God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." 9 Hu- 
man wisdom is not capable of making addi- 
tions to inspired Scripture which are not guar- 
anteed by express and unquestionable revela- 
tions of the Spirit ; and what one might fancy 
to be an inspiration from God is to be tested 
by his known and certified disclosures. "Which 
things also we speak," says Paul, "not in 
words which man's wisdom teacheth, but 
which the Spirit teacheth ; combining spiritual 
things with spiritual words." 10 Even the great 
apostle candidly said when he was discussing 
certain subjects, "I have no commandment of 
the Lord." 11 Surely, teachers in our day 
should be equally scrupulous and guarded. 

The advice given long ago through Jeremiah 
is still good : "The prophet that hath a dream, 

8 2 Peter 8. 16. " 1 Corinthians 2. 13. 

» 2 Peter 1. 20, 21. " 1 Corinthians 7. 25. 



APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 11 

let him tell a dream; and he that hath my 
word, let him speak my word faithfully." 12 It 
is a sad and mischievous thing that even good 
people in our day will mix up their dreams 
with the word of the Lord. When a man puts 
his theory, even if he thinks it is from God, on 
the same high plane with the words of Scrip- 
ture, he is guilty of a serious impropriety, to 
say the least. His act may do great harm to 
simple-hearted people. Everyone who ven- 
tures to teach divine things should pray earn- 
estly that he may be able to present himself 
"approved unto God, a workman that needeth 
not to be ashamed, handling aright the word 
of truth." 13 

Many theorists write into the word of God 
what is not there. We cannot say that in all 
cases they do this knowingly or willfully, but 
the result is just the same. Every passage of 
Scripture should be examined in the most 
prayerful spirit, and by the aid of the best 
and most devout scholarship that can be ob- 
tained. With even painful self-denial, he who 
writes about a Scripture text should make sure 
that he has not put into it the least thing it 
does not actually say. 

But even this care is not enough. He must 

Jeremiah 23. 28. 
» 2 Timothy 2. 15. 



12 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

now compare the text with every other scrip- 
ture which bears on the same truth. In doing 
this he must be certain that the passages he 
uses for comparison are really written on the 
same subject. He must not be deceived by a 
similarity of words. This is the peril of all 
who go dredging through the Bible for proof 
texts, and are not careful to see that the texts 
selected are what they seem to be on the sur- 
face. Great harm has been done to religion 
by forgetting this caution. If every student 
of the Bible would ask, "Who wrote this sen- 
tence? When did he write it? To whom did 
he write it?" a great amount of danger would 
be avoided. The Holy Spirit has spoken 
through a great variety of persons and under 
a great diversity of conditions, and for many 
different people. All these things, if they are 
remembered, and if they are given their true 
value, will keep us from seriously misunder- 
standing the Bible. 

Christ Himself the Test of Doctrine 

We should fill our minds with the word of 
the Lord. Many of the things taught to-day 
about the second coming of Christ have no 
standing in the Scriptures. Yet those who 
proffer these stones in the place of bread strive 
to make their followers believe that the texts 



APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 13 

they quote are divinely inspired proofs of their 
wrong opinions. Careful Bible students are 
not cheated in this way, but the unwary are 
often thus deceived. Reader, let no man daz- 
zle you by an array of texts into accepting his 
theories, on the supposition that he must be 
right because he names chapter and verse for 
his doctrine. Sift his texts for yourself. Do 
not take his word for their meaning. Study 
them in their connections. See what goes be- 
fore and follows them. If you do not feel able 
alone to get at the exact truth, go to some 
Christian minister who has spent many years 
in patient and scholarly searching of the Scrip- 
tures and obtain his help. 

Here is a test, however, which the humblest 
Christian can apply for himself: bring every- 
thing to the touch of the mind of Christ. He 
said, "Ye search the scriptures, because ye 
think that in them ye have eternal life; and 
these are they which bear witness of me." 14 
He is the real key to all prophecy and all doc- 
trine. Every piece of writing in the Bible 
must be judged by the light of his character 
and teaching. The Spirit of Christ we may 
have in our own hearts, and "if any man hath 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 15 

14 John 5. 39. 
16 Romans 8. 9. 



14 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

It is by obeying God that we enter into the 
Christ life. "If any man willeth to do his will, 
he shall know of the teaching/' 16 

Now, when a theory is brought to us with 
a great show of authority, let us ask whether 
it is a teaching which corresponds with the 
spirit of the Christ who speaks in the Gospels, 
and whom we know because we have him in 
our hearts. Perhaps some one will quote from 
Paul, or Peter, or James, or some other writer, 
giving an interpretation of the text which fits 
his own theory. Let us then ask ourselves 
whether this representation of what these in- 
spired men wrote is in accord with what we 
know Christ said, and with what we know he 
is. If any man puts forward a teaching which 
is hostile to our Lord's recorded way of speak- 
ing on the same subject, we may be sure it is 
wrong. If prophecy is made to mean some- 
thing contrary to the spirit of Christ as you 
know him by a living experience of his life, 
then you may be certain either that it has been 
misinterpreted or that it does not refer to 
Christ at all. Believing this to be the only 
safe way in which to study the Scriptures, em- 
phasis is laid in this book, first upon Christ's 
own words, then upon the words of his apos- 
tles. Out of these it is possible to reach the 

16 John 7. 17. 



APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 15 

meaning of prophecy. To begin the other way 
around, starting with ancient prophecies 
which are very obscure, moving on to apos- 
tolic writings, and finally using both to fix a 
doctrine before we have learned precisely what 
Christ taught, is to follow an uncertain lead, 
to say the least. 

Things Which Are Hidden 

If we find difficulties which we cannot ex- 
plain (and the greatest minds have been com- 
pelled to admit that some things in the Bible 
are too deep and mysterious for them to 
fathom), we need not lose our confidence. It 
is not necessary for us to work out all the 
puzzles of the Scriptures. This is one of the 
temptations which beset earnest Bible stu- 
dents. They are led away by the fascination 
of a difficult passage. They become more in- 
terested in it than in some spiritual truth. 
This is the defect of some who are carried 
away by the strange figures in the Bible, so 
that they have no time or energy for real 
Christian service. They worry and weary 
themselves over the beasts in Daniel's visions 
or in the book of Revelation, while they neglect 
to do Christian work that would overcome the 
beasts of iniquity in our day. We do not need 
to explain every dark saying in the Scriptures, 



16 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

but we do need to show forth Him who is the 
light of the world. We should not blink the 
difficulties in the Bible. We should frankly 
admit them. But we need not feel compelled 
to invent a theory to fit them. 

Moses truly said, "The secret things belong 
unto Jehovah our God ; but the things that are 
revealed belong unto us and to our children 
forever, that we may do all the words of this 
law." 17 It is quite enough for us to act upon 
what is plainly revealed. There is no profit in 
stretching our minds upon the rack of ques- 
tioning about things hidden from us by God's 
wisdom. Jesus uttered a caution which con- 
tains a widely applicable principle when he 
said to his disciples, "It is not for you to know 
times or seasons, which the Father hath set 
within his own authority." 18 

The only honest way with the Bible is to 
examine all scripture first, and build the doc- 
trine upon a careful study. Many persons 
begin the other way. They concoct a doctrine, 
and then go through the Scriptures to find 
texts which will support it. The Bible is so 
wonderful that you can prove anything in it 
^ I I if you omit what you do not want for your 
purpose and take what you do want. That y i 

17 Deuteronomy 29. 29. 

18 Acts 1. 7. 



APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 17 

is a method pursued by some who write and 
speak upon the question of the second coming 
of our Lord. Not only is this improper and 
misleading, but it has driven many thoughtful 
persons away from a truth which is of great 
value. No true Christian can be anything but 
glad over the prospect that Christ will return. 
But he may be led to feel that the promise of 
his coming is doubtful if it is hedged about 
with unscriptural and unreasonable theories 
of the time, the manner, and the purpose of 
his return. 

False Prophets 

Jesus warned his disciples against false 
prophets, and especially those who should 
arise in connection with the expectation of 
his return. 19 The apostles were equally anx- 
ious that Christians should not be led astray 
by evil teachers. Referring to the past and 
looking for a repetition of history, Peter said, 
"There arose false prophets also among the 
people, as among you also there shall be false 
teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive 
heresies." 20 John is just as anxious, for he 
says, "Many false prophets are gone out into 
the world." 21 



^Matthew 24. 5, 11, 24; Mark 13. 6, 22; Luke 21. 8. 
2 2 Peter 2. 1. 
» 1 John 4. 1. 



18 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

We must remember that there are several 
kinds of false prophets. Some of these are in- 
tentional frauds. Of these Jesus said, "Be- 
ware of false prophets, who come to you in 
sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening 
wolves." 22 These are to be tested by their 
works, not by their appearance. 

But many false prophets are not willful im- 
postors. They are deeply religious, but they 
have unwittingly allowed themselves to be 
made victims of spiritual pride. They have 
become wise in their own conceits, 23 a peril 
against which Paul frequently warned his 
readers. They are swollen with egotism, which 
betrays them into the folly of substituting 
their own fancies for the explicit word of the 
Lord. 24 They do not mean to be false proph- 
ets, but they run ahead of the Lord's revelation 
or commandment, and thus become deceivers. 

Coleridge said, "He who begins by loving 
Christianity better than the truth will proceed 
by loving his own sect or church better than 
Christianity, and will end in loving himself 
better than all." People who think Chris- 
tianity means a theory they have invented are 
often guilty of this self-love, though they may 
not know it. 

Then there are other false prophets who 

22 Matthew 7. 15. 23 Romans 12. 16. 24 Garatians 6. 3. 



APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 19 

have become such by permitting themselves 
to put more emphasis upon certain minor as- 
pects of truth than upon the truth itself. They 
are eccentrics. They bulge too much on one 
side. They force a subordinate thing into un- 
due prominence. This fault is found among 
some conscientious persons who are earnestly 
proclaiming the second coming of our Lord. 
They make more of the time, the manner, and 
the circumstances of his coming than of the 
sublime truth involved in his return, and the 
inspiring reasons for his final advent, as re- 
vealed in the Scriptures. Hence they give their 
imagination loose rein, or they press unwar- 
ranted interpretations of Scripture prophecy. 
They hold attention to dramatic accompani- 
ments rather than to plain facts and their 
necessary results. 

The consequences to the victim of false 
or misleading teachings are just the same, 
whether the prophet is sincere and conscien- 
tious, or purposely deceitful. In any case our 
Lord's words are applicable : "Whosoever shall 
cause one of these little ones that believe on 
me to stumble, it were better for him if a great 
millstone were hanged about his neck, and he 
were cast into the sea." 25 By adhering closely 
to what is certainly known in the word of 

26 Mark 9. 42; see also Luke 17. 2. 



20 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

God, after careful comparison of all scripture, 
and the total rejection of all purely human 
admixtures, we shall avoid the terrible fate of 
those who prophesy wrong things. 

Troublesome Talk 

Teachers of religion, however sincere, should 
pray to be delivered from the spirit of unprofit- 
able discussion, "that they strive not about 
words, to no profit, to the subverting of them 
that hear." 26 It is not helpful to right think- 
ing that we should enter into noisy battle with 
erroneous thinkers. The obligation to rebuke 
false teachers is constant. But, as Paul says, 
"The end of the charge is love out of a pure 
heart and a good conscience and faith un- 
feigned: from which things some having 
swerved have turned aside unto vain talking; 
desiring to be teachers of the law, though they 
understand neither what they say, nor whereof 
they confidently affirm." 27 Error fails in the 
presence of simple truth. We need not smite 
false teachers with the arm of flesh. "The 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of 
God," 28 is quite sufficient. Facts of human 
experience, which can never contradict the 



26 2 Timothy 2. 14. 
2 7 1 Timothy 1. 5-7. 

28 Ephesians 6. U. 



APPROACH TO THE DOCTRINE 21 

word of God, are also a defense against error. 
Let things be stated as they are, and not as 
theorists may fancy them to be, and truth will 
prevail. 

We are now to take a square look at the 
doctrine of Christ's second coming. The 
writer has no theory to construct. He has 
no plan of the ages to prove. He has no pro- 
gram for Christ to choose. He comes to his 
task, as he firmly believes, without a prejudice 
except his fondness for truth. He has deter- 
mined to go as far as the Bible goes, but no 
farther. He will follow where the Scriptures 
lead without hesitation or reluctance. But 
when the Scriptures give no leading he will 
not venture to speculate. Revelation is 
enough. Speculation is more than enough, 
which means that it is useless and unhelpful. 
If God had w r anted to give us more knowledge 
about certain mysteries, he could easily have 
inspired men to write additional revelations. 
There are many things about which we desire 
knowledge. Among them are queries which 
God has not seen fit to answer. When men 
tell us they have additional revelations from 
God, we should be very chary about accepting 
them. Saint Paul's prediction has often been 
verified : "The time will come when they will 
not endure the sound doctrine; but, having 



22 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers 
after their own lusts ; and will turn away their 
ears from the truth, and turn aside unto 
fables." 29 "Ye therefore, beloved, knowing 
these things beforehand, beware lest, being car- 
ried away with the error of the wicked, ye 
fall from your own stedfastness. But grow 
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. To him he the glory 
both now and forever. Amen." 30 



29 2 Timothy 4. 3, 4. 
so 2 Peter 3. 17, 18. 



CHAPTER II 
TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 

At the close of his life John Selden, one of 
the most learned men in England during the 
seventeenth century, said to Archbishop Usher, 
"I have surveyed most of the learning that is 
among the sons of men, but I cannot recollect 
any passage out of all my books and papers 
whereon I can rest my soul, save this from the 
sacred Scriptures: 'For the grace of God 
hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 
instructing us, to the intent that, denying 
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live 
soberly and righteously and godly in this pres- 
ent world; looking for the blessed hope and 
appearing of the glory of the great God and 
our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself 
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniq- 
uity, and purify unto himself a people for his 
own possession, zealous of good works.' ,n 

There is a sweeping splendor in this passage 
which justifies the devout scholar's confidence. 
It begins by tracing the source of salvation — 
"the grace of God" ; it continues by affirming 
the universality of this grace — "bringing sal- 

1 Titus 2. 11-14. 

23 



24 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

vation to all men" ; it declares the duty of man 
in view of this revelation — to "live soberly and 
righteously and godly" ; it keeps the mind on 
the practical bearings of religion — "in this 
present world" ; it directs the soul to the high 
incentives of a godly life — "looking for the 
blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the 
great God and our Saviour" ; and it presents 
the object of Christ's atonement — "that he 
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify 
unto himself a people for his own possession, 
zealous of good works." If we keep these 
words in mind we shall the more easily put 
a true valuation on the doctrine of our Lord's 
return, which fills so prominent a place in this 
noble passage. 

Every time a Christian recites the Apostles' 
Creed he affirms his belief that the Lord is 
coming again "to judge the quick and the 
dead." Every time he partakes of the Lord's 
Supper he should recall the words of Paul: 
"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he 
come." 2 At all times he should remember that 
Christ, "having been once offered to bear the 
sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart 
from sin, to them that wait for him, unto sal- 
vation." 3 



2 1 Corinthians 11. 26. 3 Hebrews 9. 28, 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 25 

In the service for the burial of the dead, as 
recited by Christian ministers of various sects, 
it is declared in language hallowed by centu- 
ries of use that the body is committed to the 
earth, "looking for the general resurrection 
in the last day, and the life of the world to 
come, through our Lord Jesus Christ ; at whose 
second coming in glorious majesty to judge the 
world, the earth and the sea shall give up their 
dead/' etc. 4 

In many confessions of faith adopted by 
Christian bodies there is agreement with the 
doctrine set forth in the Articles of Religion 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the fol- 
lowing words: "Christ did truly rise again 
from the dead, and took again his body, with 
all things appertaining to the perfection of 
man's nature, wherewith he ascended into 
heaven, and there sitteth until he return to 
judge all men at the last day." 5 

An Ancient Belief 

These quotations represent the conviction of 
the Christian Church from the earliest centu- 
ries, though it has been held with varying de- 
grees of certainty and with a diversity of 

4 Methodist Episcopal Discipline, Protestant Episcopal Prayer 
Book, and many liturgies. 
'Article III, 



26 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

opinions concerning the time, the circum- 
stances, and the results of Christ's second 
advent. It had a place of prominence in the 
thought of the earliest Christians. The writers 
of the four Gospels gave large space to it in 
the teachings of Jesus. The apostles made it 
conspicuous in their preaching, as we learn 
from the Acts of the Apostles, and more espe- 
cially from the epistles which grew out of their 
work in establishing churches. In his earliest 
letters Paul dwells fondly upon it, and leaves 
traces of it in nearly all of his writings. It 
is given significant reference in the Epistles of 
Peter, James and John. It is mentioned in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, and shines through the 
book of Revelation. 

It is evident that the apostles of Christ and 
the converts whom they first made were confi- 
dent that their Master would speedily return 
to the earth, and most of them supposed he 
would come back during their lifetime. This 
conviction doubtless had much influence with 
the church immediately after Pentecost, and 
probably explains in part the willingness of 
the Christian community to set aside individ- 
ual ownership of property for the common 
good. 6 They parted with their possessions 
under the impression that they would soon 

*• Acts 2. 44, 45; 4. 32-35. 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 27 

have no need for them, since the Lord was 
quickly coming back to judge the world and 
begin his visible reign among men. They 
thought the words of Jesus concerning his 
coming again could bear no other meaning, as 
was natural enough. 

In the centuries immediately following the 
apostolic period Christian teachers were deep- 
ly moved by the same considerations. Grad- 
ually it became evident that the expectation 
of an early return of our Lord was not to be 
fulfilled. Hence it was thought necessary to 
alter the construction put upon Christ's words. 
The discussions of theologians as the centuries 
moved on, accompanied as they were by very 
novel and unconvincing theories about the sec- 
ond coming of Christ, produced in the Chris- 
tian world a spirit of weariness respecting the 
doctrine, and finally it became the general 
opinion that the teaching was so obscure that, 
while the promise of Christ's return must be 
regarded as genuine, the date of his coming 
was so indefinite that the whole question might 
be set aside as one of the insoluble mysteries 
of religion. 

Modern Opinions 

Revivals of interest in this subject have 
occurred at intervals, but unscriptural and 



28 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

unreasonable theories pertaining largely to 
the date and circumstances of the second ad- 
vent, reached through mechanical interpreta- 
tions of prophecy, have interfered with its 
acceptance by thousands of Christians. In 
more recent times there has been a decided 
reawakening on the subject, accompanied by 
a new examination of the Scriptures, and also, 
it must be confessed, by the invention of crude 
theories relating to the order of events which 
may be presumed to take place at the second 
coming of Christ, and to the probability that 
this advent to judgment is near at hand. A 
considerable interest has thus been provoked, 
though the Christian world is far from agree- 
ment on the matter. We may distinguish 
broadly the following classes of thinkers on 
this question : 

First, those who claim that the whole sub- 
ject is of comparatively no importance. Their 
number is, unfortunately, very large. They 
vaunt themselves as exceedingly practical peo- 
ple. They ask, as was predicted of their sort, 
" Where is the promise of his coming? for, from 
the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things 
continue as they were from the beginning of 
the creation." 7 If they do not reject the doc- 
trine out of hand, they at least question its 

»? Peter 3. 4 f 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 29 

value. They say there is no need to bother 
one's soul over a thing which is a mere matter 
of speculation, and on which there is no agree- 
ment among scholars and theologians. Fur- 
thermore, if Christians were united in their 
opinion of it, the doctrine has no strong bear- 
ing, they say, on the making of character. 
There are many other essential doctrines 
about which the church is sure, and these are 
both necessary to salvation and helpful to 
spiritual development. Let us center our 
thought upon these teachings and put aside 
the discussion of Christ's return as a thing 
of utterly subordinate interest. To this criti- 
cism we shall give large attention later, but 
we may pause here to insert the fact that in 
the thought of Paul and other apostles there 
is much worth in keeping before one's mind 
the second coming of our Lord, as a means of 
shaping behavior to good ends. This passage, 
among several which might be quoted, is an 
instance in point : "When Christ, who is our 
life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also 
with him be manifested in glory. Put to 
death therefore your members which are 
upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, 
passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which 
is idolatry/' 8 

8 Colossians 3. 4, 5. 



30 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

The Topmost Truth 

The opposite extreme is represented by those 
who make the second coming of Christ almost, 
if not quite, the entire gospel. They find it 
taught everywhere from Genesis to Revela- 
tion; in the poetry, prophecy, history, and 
even the statistics of the Bible. They see it 
in almost every speech of our Lord recorded 
in the Gospels, in almost every utterance of 
the apostles. They find it foreshadowed or 
intimated in passages where the average stu- 
dent of the Bible would never expect it. 
Christendom has long been familiar with this 
style of biblical interpretation. There was a 
time in this country when controversy on the 
mode of baptism was foremost in the thought 
of Christians. Then advocates of various posi- 
tions found proof texts for their favorite the- 
ory in every part of the Scriptures. There was 
also a time when a narrow doctrine of sancti- 
fication was heralded by noisy enthusiasts, 
who found substance for their pet convictions 
in every part of the Bible regardless of the 
connection or purport of the passage. Such 
gross abuses of Scripture have not entirely 
disappeared. The method is now being used 
to substantiate theories concerning the second 
coming of Christ. The Bible is regarded as 
a great bin full of texts, all of equal authority 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 31 

and appropriateness, if they can be made to 
set up or strengthen a position already taken. 
It is as if the pieces of a picture puzzle had 
been thrown into a heap, from which it was 
the task of the skillful solver of difficulties to 
draw out those which could be combined to fit 
the pattern. The Bible is searched from one 
end to the other with a view to selecting those 
sentences from writers covering a period of 
at least fifteen hundred years which, when 
matched together by the hand of a cunning 
artificer, will produce a representation of a 
theory which he has already conceived. This 
is a dishonest way of treating the Scriptures. 
But, unfortunately, theology has been cursed 
by this bane almost from the beginning of the 
Christian Church. 

Those who make the second coming of Christ 
unqualifiedly the most important of all doc- 
trines go so far as to say it is the central and 
pivotal teaching of religion. A minister in 
New York declares that during a long pastor- 
ate he has scarcely preached a sermon or made 
an exegesis which has not either proceeded 
from or led to the doctrine of the second com- 
ing of Christ. He and others of his ilk claim 
that the Bible cannot be understood without 
following such a process. This is the key 
which unlocks all the mysteries of the most 



32 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

obscure passages in the Bible. The extremists 
who set up the claim that the second coming 
of Christ is the supreme doctrine of our reli- 
gion, to which all others are subordinate, make 
even the atonement of Christ of minor signifi- 
cance. Not satisfied with such extravagance, 
they proceed to construct a mechanical and 
fantastic scheme of operations for Christ and 
his saints. On the strength of widely sepa- 
rated texts of Scripture, torn out of their im- 
mediate connection, they build up such a pro- 
gram for our Lord as could not be constructed 
on any sane and candid method of interpreting 
the Scriptures, and which has no support in 
the words of Christ and no justification in the 
reason of the case. 

An Undue Stress 

It is such unwarranted extremes which have 
driven many devout people away from the 
study of a subject which deserves earnest at- 
tention. It is difficult to understand how 
any judicious person could regard the second 
coming of Christ as the one exclusive doctrine 
of supreme importance. The most elementary 
knowledge of theology and the Bible ought to 
enable anyone to see that the incarnation, for 
example, is a doctrine of supreme significance, 
without which there could be no such thing as 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 33 

Christianity. Jesus came into the world for 
the purpose of manifesting God in the flesh, 
and thus bringing to man a revelation surpass- 
ing anything the human mind had dared to 
conjecture. The sacrifice of Christ, without 
which there is no remission of sins and on 
which the salvation of the world depends, com- 
monly called in theology the atonement, at- 
tended as it is by the profoundest mysteries, is 
certainly a doctrine of supreme importance. 
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
dead, with its manifold implications respect- 
ing the future life, is certainly a doctrine of 
supreme importance, and was so regarded by 
the apostle Paul, whose words concerning the 
second coming of Christ are so thoroughly 
relied upon by the advocates of strange theo- 
ries of our Lord's return. If Paul believed, as 
he said, that without the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ the faith of Christians would be vain, 
their preaching mere imposture, and them- 
selves the most miserable of all men, 9 we must 
consider that the resurrection of Christ is a 
supreme doctrine. The work of the Holy 
Spirit is surely a doctrine of the first impor- 
tance, without which we have no solid ground 
for our belief in the inspiration of the Scrip- 
tures or the work of Christ in the human heart, 

9 1 Corinthians 15. 17-19. 



34 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

or the gift of divine power in the operations 
of the church. Thus one might go on specify- 
ing doctrines without which the fabric of 
Christian theology would fall into hopeless 
confusion. To say that the return of Christ 
is to be placed on a par with some of these 
teachings is doubtless justified. It is the se- 
quel of all previous revelations of Christ to 
the world. But to say that the return of 
Christ is the one supreme doctrine is like 
claiming that the only thing worth consider- 
ing in a pyramid is its apex, that the founda- 
tions and the interior construction are of very 
slight importance as compared with the pin- 
nacle which adorns the top. 

People who put forward in demonstration 
of this doctrine the alleged fact that a majority 
of the most successful evangelists of our time 
make it central to their teaching, assert that 
which is of very little value, since it may 
be said with equal truth that there is no 
successful evangelist among us who does 
not believe in the incarnation, the atonement 
of Christ, the resurrection from the dead, the 
work of the Holy Spirit, and other great fun- 
damental teachings. Upon which one of these 
doctrines shall we pitch for the reason of a 
particular evangelist's success? If he should 
drop out any of them, could he win? The 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 35 

claim proves too much for the advocates of 
the surpassing value of the return of Christ 
as substance for preaching. 

On the other hand, to deny any importance 
to the second advent is equally wrong and 
harmful, since (1) the doctrine would not 
have such space given to it in the teachings 
of Jesus and in the writings of his apostles 
if it had not a vital relation to the Christian 
gospel; (2) it is decidedly important as the 
culmination of Christ's work for the redemp- 
tion of the world, without which his media- 
torial ministry on earth would seem to be in- 
complete; and (3) it is the final verification 
before all worlds of Christ's sublime claim. 
Upon his return to the earth and the estab- 
lishment of his reign among men no excuse 
will be left for not accepting him and his 
teachings. 

The Sayings of Jesus 

We shall get a clear idea of the relative 
importance of this doctrine if we notice the 
attention given to it in the New Testament. 
There are four Gospels which tell us what 
Christ said and did. The first three are called 
the synoptics, because they give practically 
one comprehensive and harmonious view of 
Christ's earthly ministry. They relate events 
as a narrative and do not deal with doctrines. 



36 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

They state facts and report discourses, but 
they do not, like the fourth Gospel, spring 
from a purpose to persuade men to accept 
Christ as the Saviour. John says in explana- 
tion of his choice of materials: "These are 
written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye 
may have life in his name." 10 

Taking up the record, first of the synoptics, 
we find the following instances of Christ's 
proclamation that he will come again to the 
earth : When commissioning his twelve apos- 
tles to go forth "to the lost sheep of the house 
of Israel," healing the sick and preaching the 
kingdom, he said: "Ye shall not have gone 
through the cities of Israel, till the Son of 
man be come." 11 

When Jesus and his disciples were at Csesa- 
rea Philippi, he said to them: "The Son of 
man shall come in the glory of his Father 
with his angels; and then shall he render 
unto every man according to his deeds. Verily 
I say unto you, There are some of them that 
stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, 
till they see the Son of man coming in his 
kingdom." 12 



"> John 20. 31. 

« Matthew 10. 23. 

12 Matthew 16. 27; Luke 9. 27; see also Mark 9. 1. 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 37 

It is in this connection also that Jesus says, 
"Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my 
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, 
the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him, 
when he cometh in the glory of his Father with 
the holy angels." 13 

When Jesus declares his Messiahship before 
the high priest at the time of his trial, his 
claims being called in question, he says, 
"Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sit- 
ting at the right hand of Power, and coming 
on the clouds of heaven." 14 

In the parable of the tares 15 we also have a 
clear declaration that Jesus is coming again 
accompanied with his angels, to gather out of 
his kingdom whatever is offensive, and to 
award glory to the righteous, who are to "shine 
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father." 

The judgment scene recorded in Matthew's 
Gospel 16 is introduced by this statement: 
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the angels with him, then shall he sit 
on the throne of his glory : and before him 
shall be gathered all nations." 

On a certain occasion the Pharisees asked 



13 Mark 8. 38; see also Luke 9. 26. 

14 Matthew 26. 64; see also Mark 14. 62. 

15 Matthew 13. 36-43. 
18 Matthew 25. 31-46. 



38 WHEN CHEIST COMES AGAIN 

Jesus when the kingdom of God should come, 
and he replied : "The kingdom of God eometh 
not with observation: neither shall they say, 
Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of 
God is within you." Then turning to his dis- 
ciples, he warned them not to be deceived by 
false leaders, but to remember that his coming 
would be as unmistakable as the lightning 
which flashes across the sky, and that men 
would be as preoccupied with the affairs of 
common life when he should return as they 
were in the days of Noah before the flood, and 
in the days of Lot before the destruction of 
Sodom. 17 

At the close of our Lord's parable of the 
unjust judge he declares that God will "avenge 
his elect, that cry to him day and night," and 
then exclaims: "Nevertheless, when the Son 
of man eometh, shall he find faith on the 
earth?" 18 

These are Christ's general proclamations 
and intimations of his second coming ; to which 
must be added certain parables and other illus- 
trations, some of which were evidently intend- 
ed to emphasize the fact of his return, while 
others seem to have been spoken with that 
event in our Lord's mind, though they do not 

w Luke 17. 20-37. 
18 Luke 18. 7, 8. 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 39 

specifically refer to it. Attention should be 
given to the parables of the virgins; 19 the 
talents, which is given in two forms ; 20 the fig 
tree; 21 also to the similes of the servants who 
are to have their loins girded and their lamps 
burning, 22 the householder and the thief, 23 the 
faithful and unfaithful servants, 24 and the 
careless reveler. 25 

It will be noticed by those who read these 
passages that most of them are found in con- 
nection with our Lord's apocalyptic address, 
at the close of his public ministry, as recorded 
in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 26 

We shall have occasion later to refer in 
detail to this address, in treating of the time, 
manner, and purpose of Christ's return. We 
now pause only to point out how large a space 
it fills in the recorded sayings of our Lord. 

What John Has to Say 

Having shown what Christ said about his 
return, as recorded in the first three Gospels, 



19 Matthew 25. 1-12. 

2 Matthew 25. 13-20; Luke 19. 11-28. 

21 Matthew 24. 32, 33. 

22 Luke 12. 35-48. 

23 Matthew 25. 42-44. 

24 Matthew 25. 45-51. 
26 Luke 21. 34-36. 

26 Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21. 



40 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

we may now turn to the fourth Gospel ; for we 
do not obtain all that he taught from the 
synoptics. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit has 
given to us John's wonderful Gospel, for it 
throws a flood of light on our Lord's teachings 
concerning his second advent among men. 
Certain things which are dark to us in the 
narratives of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are 
illuminated by the records of that disciple 
whom Jesus loved, 27 and who stood closer to 
him than any of the other writers. 

It is well for us to remember that the Gospel 
of John, and probably also the First Epistle 
of John, are the latest writings we have in the 
New Testament. This fact is easily overlooked 
because we get the impression that the ar- 
rangement of the books is chronological. This 
is wrong, however, because the Epistles of 
Paul are among the earliest contributions to 
the New Testament. The Epistles to the Thes- 
salonians, which are the books in which he ex- 
presses himself most abundantly about the 
second advent, are the first books in point of 
time which are found in the New Testament, 
and they doubtless reflect what the early dis- 
ciples thought with regard to the second com- 
ing of Christ. The memorials contained in the 
Gospels of Matthew and Mark were collected 

27 John 13. 23; 19. 26; 20. 2; 21. 7, 20. 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 41 

about the same time that Paul was writing his 
first Epistles. 

But when we take up the Gospel of John we 
are reading a book which was not written until 
after Paul had left the world, and not until the 
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke had been 
published. This Gospel is, in fact, the very 
latest, and is farthest removed from the theo- 
ries of Christ's speedy return which had been 
entertained by Christ's disciples, and even by 
John himself, as we know by reference to John 
21. 22. He had probably at one time expected 
our Lord's return during his lifetime. Per- 
haps he still held that expectation while he 
was writing the fourth Gospel. Nevertheless, 
he was now an old man, and Christ had not 
yet returned. Without doubt this modified his 
view of the subject. He does not doubt that 
his Lord will return, but being a man of deep 
reflection, he has seen in the preaching of his 
Master a deeper spiritual meaning than others 
have noted, and all through his Gospel, while 
he has taken up questions of the resurrection 
and the final judgment without hesitation, he 
has imparted to them a spiritual significance 
which he acquired from his close fellowship 
with Christ, and which is not so clearly inti- 
mated in the records of other Gospels. 

This does not mean that he has not preserved 



42 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

definite predictions of Christ's visible return. 
It is he who has given to us our Lord's wonder- 
ful farewell discourse, delivered the night be- 
fore his crucifixion, in which are contained 
these words : "I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come 
again, and will receive you unto myself; that 
where I am, there ye may be also." 28 A little 
farther along in the same address Christ says, 
"Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and 
I come unto you." 29 It is believed also that 
it is our Lord's return to which he referred 
when he said to Nathanael, "Ye shall see the 
heaven opened, and the angels of God ascend- 
ing and descending upon the Son of man." 30 
There is a plainer statement of what Christ 
had taught in his rebuke to Peter's question 
about John, "What shall this man do?" Our 
Lord replied, "If I will that he tarry till I 
come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." 31 
There are various other passages in the 
Gospel of John relating to resurrection and 
judgment, but which of necessity include the 
teaching of Christ concerning his second com- 
ing. These will be considered in their proper 
place, when other aspects of the subject are 
treated. They are mentioned here in order 

w John 14. 2, 3. 30 John 1. 51. 

2 » John 14. 28. ! 31 John 21. 22. 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 43 

that the reader may know they have not been 
overlooked. 32 

Paul and the Other Apostles 

We have already mentioned the prominent 
place which the second coming of Christ occu- 
pies in the writings of Paul and other apostles ; 
but we call attention to it again, because hasty 
readers of the New Testament are not likely 
to realize either the quality or the import of 
the matter on this subject to be found in these 
great productions. The theme has no refer- 
ence in the Epistle to the Galatians, or the 
letter to Philemon, and but casual mention in 
the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. 33 
It is not prominent in the Epistle to the 
Romans. 34 But it is the most important ele- 
ment in the Epistles to the Thessalonians, it 
is conspicuous in the Epistles to the Corin- 
thians, it appears often in the Epistle to the 
Philippians and in the letters to Timothy and 
Titus. 35 

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the 



32 John 5. 25-29; John 11. 25, 26. See pp. 89-93. 

33 Ephesians 4. 30; Colossians 3. 4. 

34 Romans 2. 5, 16. 

35 1 Corinthians 1. 4-8; 11. 26; 15. 23; 16. 22. 2 Corinthians 
1. 14. Philippians 1. 6-10; 2. 16; 3. 11; 3. 20, 21; 4. 5. 1 Thes- 
salonians 1. 10; 2. 19; 3. 13; 4. 13-18; 5. 1-10; 5. 23. 2 Thessa- 
lonians 1. 7-10; 2. 1-8. 1 Timothy 6. 13-15; 2 Timothy 4. 1; 
4. 8. Titus 2. 11-15. 



44 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Epistles of James, Peter, and John, there is 
much direct statement or incidental allusion 
bearing on the subject. 86 The Epistle of Jude 
contains a single passage concerning final 
judgment which is a citation from the Book 
of Enoch. 37 The Apocalypse of John is replete 
with the theme. 38 

It would seem to be impossible for any stu- 
dent of the Bible merely to have brought to 
his attention the extent to which this subject 
pervaded the minds of Christ's apostles with- 
out being convinced of the great significance 
of a doctrine on which the Holy Spirit inspired 
these writers to express themselves so freely 
and fully. Surely, it is a very shallow judg- 
ment which holds that the second coming of 
Christ is so much a matter of speculation, that 
it can safely be put in the list of doctrines 
which make their appeal only to people who 
are fond of controversy. 

The Right Proportion 

Roughly speaking, we may divide opinion on 
this subject into three attitudes represented 
by: 



»• Hebrews 9. 24-28; 10. 22-24; 10. 25; 10. 35-37. James 5. 
7, 8; 1 Peter 1. 7, 13; 4. 13; 5. 1-4. 2 Peter 3. 1 John 2. 28; 
3. 2, 3. 2 John 7. 

37 Jude 14, 15. 

38 Revelation 1. 7; 2. 25; 3. 3, 10, 11; 14. 14-16; 16. 15; 22. 20. 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 45 

1. Those who think it is nothing. 

2. Those who think it is everything. 

3. Those who think it is something. 

In the last named class there is much room 
for subdivision, according to the degrees of 
importance assigned to the doctrine by various 
persons who hold it. 

Rejecting the idea that this doctrine is the 
supremely important teaching of Christianity, 
what rank should we give to it? An examina- 
tion of Paul's writings will help us to a sound 
decision. We have seen how much space he 
uses on this subject. He, therefore, regarded 
it as highly essential to a complete under- 
standing of the gospel. But that he did not 
think of it as the supreme doctrine is clear, if 
we scan his epistles in the order in which they 
were composed. 

In his First Epistle to the Thessalonians the 
second advent is the principal matter, and this 
is true of the Second Epistle to the Thessa- 
lonians, which was evidently written to cor- 
rect some misunderstandings which had arisen 
w r ith regard to his first Epistle. 89 When we 
come to the Epistles to the Corinthians, which 
were next in point of time among the writings 
of Paul, w r e find the subject still strong in the 
thought of the apostle, but not nearly so prom- 

39 2 Thessalonians 2. 1. 



46 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

inent as it was when he wrote to the Thessa- 
lonians. As we go on to the Epistle to the 
Romans, and then to the Epistle to the Philip- 
pians, which follow in chronological order, and 
then to the later Epistles, we observe a steady 
decline in the amount of attention he bestowed 
upon this subject. What is the reason for 
this? 

1. It is plain that when Paul wrote his first 
Epistles his thought on the second coming had 
reached its highest point. He never afterward 
wrote anything which shows an enlarged view 
on the subject. There was nothing additional 
for him to say. 

2. This does not necessarily imply that Paul 
changed his mind with regard to the signifi- 
cance of the doctrine, as some people have sup- 
posed. There is nothing in his later writings 
to suggest this, and it is altogether improb- 
able. 

3. The earliest Epistles, in which the second 
coming has the greatest prominence, were 
written to recent converts; the others to 
churches which had been established for some 
time. It was important that beginners in the 
Christian life should be taught this doctrine 
with emphasis; the older churches had, of 
course, already received it. Hence it was only 
necessary, when writing to them, that the sub- 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 47 

ject should be mentioned without detailed ex- 
position. Other teaching upon the application 
of the great gospel to the life of individuals 
would be required. This would naturally leave 
small space for a subject which by this time 
had come to be fairly well understood. 

Our conclusion from all this must be that, 
while Paul regarded the second coming of 
Christ as a doctrine of large significance, he 
did not give it a place among the greatest of 
fundamental teachings of the gospel. In his 
profound and systematic exposition of Chris- 
tian truth in the Epistle to the Romans he 
gives it no very conspicuous position. It is not 
a part of his central argument. He evidently 
esteemed it as among the rudiments of Chris- 
tian theology, great in itself, but not great 
enough to dominate religious thought; it be- 
longed, rather, to the second division of 
Christian belief. 

Paul's evident rating of the doctrine we may 
accept without hesitation. It is quite impos- 
sible for the truth of Christ's second coming 
to fill the space in our thought which it held 
in the minds of the first Christians. They were 
expecting him to return within their lifetime. 
It is not certain that Paul shared this be- 
lief, but is unquestionable that he looked for 
Christ's return in a very short time. This 



48 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

would make him feel the urgency of proclaim- 
ing the near approach of the second advent, 
and of explaining the circumstances under 
which it would occur. The other apostles were 
of the same mind. Hence they put it forward 
as a glorious hope whenever they preached and 
wrote. But it must not be forgotten that in 
the latest book in the New Testament, the 
Gospel of John, accompanied by his First 
Epistle, the subject not only has compara- 
tively subordinate attention, but is also treated 
in a way totally different from that used in 
the other Gospels and in the Apostolic 
Epistles. 

This is not a mere accident. Time had mod- 
ified the thought of Christ's followers. The 
fact of his return was kept with undiminished 
faith and enthusiasm, but the time, manner, 
significance, and purpose of his coming occu- 
pied changed relations in their minds. This 
is the situation to-day. The lapse of centuries, 
the record of history, the development of 
Christianity, and the deepening of Christian 
experience have put the Christian student of 
the Bible in a position to place a sounder val- 
uation upon the doctrine of Christ's second 
coming than was possible in a previous era. 
Ancient prophecy is clearer, the words of 
Jesus are plainer, the writings of the apostles 



TRUE PLACE OF THE THEME 49 

are more intelligible than ever. If we are 
deceived to-day by false teachers respecting 
the second coming of Christ, our fault will 
be greater than that of any who have gone 
before. 

Moreover, we have the clear promise of 
divine help in the spiritual interpretation of 
the work of the gospel and the facts of human 
experience. Jesus said : "I have yet many 
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of 
truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the 
truth : for he shall not speak from himself ; but 
what things soever he shall hear, these shall he 
speak : and he shall declare unto you the things 
that are to come. He shall glorify me ; for he 
shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto 
you." 40 



« John 16. 12-14. 



CHAPTEE III 

CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY OP HIS 

SECOND COMING 

Martin Luther said of Adam before his 
disobedience, "I believe he saw as clearly for 
a distance of a hundred miles as we can see 
for half a mile, and so of all the senses." What 
loss in bodily and mental powers sin may have 
worked in the human race we can only con- 
jecture. But we cannot doubt that the sinless 
Jesus had a mind undisturbed by the infirmi- 
ties which vex other men. In him dwelt "all 
the fullness of the Godhead bodily." 1 His 
prophetic intelligence surpassed that of any 
ancient seer who spoke and wrote under divine 
inspiration before he came among men. 

Therefore the words of Christ concerning 
his second advent must form the basis of all 
that we believe about that event; and what- 
ever cannot be easily harmonized with his 
recorded teachings must be viewed with sus- 
picion. In showing how much space was given 
to his second coming in his public ministry, 

1 Colossians 2. 9. 

50 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 51 

Christ's apocalyptic or eschatologicaF dis- 
course at the close of his work was mentioned. 
Let it now be taken up in greater detail. Every 
reader should examine this discourse with 
great care and with repeated study until it 
stands out with sharpness in his mind. 3 

"Tell us, when shall these things be? and 
what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of 
the end of the world ?" is the threefold ques- 
tion which started our Lord's address. It was 
suggested by the declaration of Christ that the 
glorious temple on which they had been gazing 
with pride a little while before was doomed 
to destruction. We learn from the account 
in Mark's Gospel that the question was asked 
privately by four of the disciples — Peter, 



2 The term "apocalypse" is from a Greek word meaning "un- 
covering," "disclosure," "revelation." It is frequently found 
in the New Testament. It implies an exalted knowledge of 
God's purposes, and is often used specifically with respect to 
the final triumph of Messiah's kingdom. The book of Revela- 
tion is in the original called "The Apocalypse of John." The 
apocalyptic literature of the Bible includes much in the prophecies 
of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel, and Daniel. Other apocalyp- 
tic writings of importance which did not obtain a place in the 
Bible are the Book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of Baruch, the 
Fourth Book of Esdras, the Assumption of Moses, and the Sibyl- 
line Oracles. 

The term "eschatology" is from a Greek word meaning "the 
doctrine of last things." It embraces such subjects as death, 
the intermediate state, resurrection, judgment, the second ad- 
vent, and the future existence of man. 

3 Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21. 



52 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

James, John, and Andrew; 4 and it was to 
them alone that Christ gave this wonderful 
prediction. 

Principles of Interpretation 

Thus we see that what is here recorded was 
really a conversation on "last things" rather 
than a set address. Jesus and his disciples 
had reached the Mount of Olives, where they 
paused to look back upon the city, of which 
the temple was the most conspicuous and im- 
portant structure. Sitting down to rest a 
while with the small group of disciples who 
were specially excited by what he had said 
about the destruction of this noble edifice, our 
Lord began to talk of the mysterious future. 
To think of what followed as a formal speech 
is to increase the difficulty of understanding 
it. He was not delivering a sermon; he was 
speaking familiarly with his closest friends on 
a subject of the deepest interest to them and 
him. 

This will explain in part why it is impos- 
sible to make a perfect analysis of the message 
given at the time. It is a flowing talk which 
winds in and out like a gentle stream through 
a wooded and heavily shaded valley. Every 



4 Mark 13. 3. Observe that these men are the two pairs 
of brothers who were called at the beginning of Christ's ministry. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 53 

careful reader will see that, while the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem is the starting point of this 
discourse, it soon develops something more 
remote in time and more impressive in char- 
acter. Many scholars have imagined that they 
could tell just w T here Jesus ceased speaking 
of the national disaster soon to befall the Jews 
and began to describe the scenes connected 
with his return and the final judgment. But 
these writers show great disagreement as to 
the precise spot where this division appears. 
It is quite clear that the earlier portion of the 
record refers generally to the overthrow of 
Jerusalem, while the later is concerned with 
Christ's second advent and the end of the age. 
But the attempt to mark off within strictly de- 
fined limits a certain section for one event, and 
another section for the other event, is not 
successful. Very ingenious parallels have been 
drawn between the predictions about the de- 
struction of Jerusalem and those relating to 
the final judgment, but these devices are not 
convincing. Some scholars insist that the 
whole discourse is devoted exclusivelv to the 
national catastrophe of the Jews, while others 
claim that almost all of it applies to the second 
coming of Christ. 

No such extreme position is warranted. The 
utmost one can say is that in this address 



54 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Jesus is "forecasting the future from the mo- 
ment of utterance to the final judgment." In 
the immediate foreground stands the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, beyond which stretch events 
preceding Christ's return, the whole meaning 
of which time and eternity alone can reveal. 
There is such a blending of the predictions in 
these three accounts that it is not possible to 
separate all the elements and assign them with 
certainty to their several divisions, but many 
of the passages can readily be so placed. After 
the lapse of centuries we are able to see that 
our Lord gave marks by which future genera- 
tions could unmistakably reach the actual in- 
tention of much that he said at this time. 
Some of his sentences surely apply to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, and cannot apply to 
anything else ; and others with equal certainty 
refer to the end of the age and the final judg- 
ment, and cannot be explained in any other 
connection. But there are passages which 
could be interpreted as bearing upon either or 
both. As yet no one can say with certainty to 
which event utterances of this general char- 
acter are to be applied, if only one was in our 
Lord's mind. 

Practical Aim of the Address 

But the lessons of faithfulness and watchful- 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 55 

ness which Christ sought to teach by this dis- 
course would be just as effective with those 
who heard it, whichever event was intended, 
and the application to our own spiritual needs 
is not affected by our inability to determine 
the question. Here we touch a most useful 
distinction, which should be a guiding prin- 
ciple in all our efforts to interpret Christ's 
words. Many persons study this prophecy 
only to speculate about its hidden meanings. 
They have a theory to uphold, or they have 
an itching desire to know that which could 
have little or no bearing on the spiritual life 
if it were perfectly understood. Our Lord 
spoke to these disciples, and through them to 
us, with no purpose to gratify an idle curiosity. 
He was moved by eagerness to urge upon them 
unswerving fidelity in the face of every diffi- 
culty, and he left them in no doubt that the 
day was coming when reckoning would be 
made with them in respect to their constancy 
to truth. How soon that crisis would occur 
he did not undertake to say, but that it was 
inevitable he declared in unmistakable terms. 
Therefore, it behooved every disciple to be 
vigilant and faithful to the highest degree. 
This is the duty which Christ laid on every 
follower to the end of time by means of his 
apocalyptic discourse. 



56 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Admonitions of this sort were given so fre- 
quently during Christ's ministry that we need 
not be surprised to find in the records of this 
discourse some things which are written else- 
where in the Gospels. For example, long be- 
fore the occasion under consideration Jesus is 
reported by Luke to have used the comparison 
of his second coming with the suddenness and 
unexpectedness of the flood and the destruc- 
tion of the cities of the plain, which is set 
down in Matthew's Gospel as a part of this 
discourse. 5 Again, we find that what Christ 
said about the necessity of watchfulness, as 
illustrated by the householder and the thief, 
and the faithful and unfaithful servants, is in 
Matthew's Gospel assigned to this discourse, 
while Luke inserts it in a very different con- 
nection. 6 It is not unlikely, therefore, that 
we have in these records of Christ's great 
prophecy not only what he said at this par- 
ticular time, but also certain other things on 
the same subject which he said at various 
times. These utterances on different occa- 
sions the writers have placed here for the 
purpose of bringing our Lord's teaching on 
the matter into one exhibit, thus serving the 



6 Luke 17. 20-37; compared with Matthew 24. 17, 23, 28, 
37,41. 

8 Luke 12. 39-46; compared with Matthew 24. 43-51. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 57 

convenience of the reader, and at the same 
time satisfying the author's sense of unity, for 
each wrote in his own way. 

The feeling that this is probable is further 
strengthened by the fact that at the end of the 
discourse a variety of illustrations is used to 
enforce the injunction to be watchful, any one 
of which would have been sufficient for the 
purpose. In Matthew we have the picture of 
the householder who would have fortified him- 
self against the thief if he had supposed the 
robber would come, and also the picture of the 
evil servant who says, "My lord tarrieth," and 
begins to beat his fellow servants. In Mark 
in the same connection we have pictures of the 
man sojourning in another country who has 
appointed each of his servants to his work and 
has charged the porter to watch. In Luke we 
have the warning against permitting the heart 
to be engrossed with surfeiting and drunken- 
ness and the cares of this life, so that the com- 
ing of Christ may appear as a snare. There 
are also immediately connected with the dis- 
course in the account in Matthew the parables 
of the virgins, of the talents, of the judgment, 
in which all nations are divided into the sheep 
and the goats, and others to which we have 
already referred. 7 It is highly improbable 

7 See pages 37-39. 



58 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

that these were all given on one occasion, 
though some of them have such perfect fitness 
that their omission at the end of the discourse 
would be a serious loss. As a climax of noble 
grandeur, the parable of the final judgment 
of all the nations 8 at the coming of the Son of 
man can only be compared with the last para- 
graph in the Sermon on the Mount which 
serves a like purpose. 9 

No true believer can doubt that the Holy 
Spirit has preserved in these three accounts 
every essential utterance of our Lord on this 
great occasion. But the narrators have writ- 
ten in their own several styles of composition. 
Every reader can see that, even if he has no 
knowledge of the Greek language. The English 
translation shows that each man wrote some- 
what differently than the others, though the 
main outlines and much of the detail are simi- 
lar. All the circumstances we have been re- 
hearsing — the conversational style of Christ's 
address, the practical purpose of our Lord, the 
use of one event as the type of the other, the 
introduction of materials previously employed 
elsewhere, the freedom of narration permitted 
by inspiration to the several authors — help us 
to discern why it is difficult, if not impossible, 

s Matthew 25. 31-46. 
• Matthew 7. 24-29. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 59 

always to say to which event the primary ref- 
erence of a particular passage was made. But 
the impending fate of Jerusalem and the final 
judgment are each in a true sense the coming 
of the Son of man. Both mark the end of an 
age. One stands as the symbol of the other. 
The time of each is left indefinite, though signs 
of the approach of each are intimated. In sev- 
eral instances the same words could be used 
of both events. 

It is very evident that in the minds of the 
disciples was the conviction that the things 
concerning which they inquired would all oc- 
cur together, the destruction of Jerusalem, the 
return of Christ and the end of the age being 
regarded by them as three phases of the same 
event. When they reported our Lord's reply, of 
course, they were still under that impression, 
for he did not attempt to correct their confu- 
sion. It w r as not the first time that Christ had 
refrained from setting right their misunder- 
standings. He knew that time and experience 
would make plain what was now dark. When 
we consider how mysterious are many things 
connected with the future, we need not be sur- 
prised that these four disciples were confused 
in this instance, or that they transmitted their 
confusion to those who afterward incorporated 
their story in the written narratives of the 



60 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

three Gospels which contain it. 10 This will 
explain many difficulties in the discourse. 

The Foreground of the Picture 

According to each of the accounts, Jesus 
begins by warning his disciples against the 
possibility of being deceived by what may be 
regarded as signs of his coming. He admon- 
ishes them not to be duped by appearances. 
False Christs shall arise, wars and rumors of 
wars shall multiply, nation shall rise against 
nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there 
shall be famines and earthquakes, and pesti- 
lences, and all kinds of tribulations. But these 
are not to be hastily taken as tokens of im- 
pending judgment. 11 "These things must 
needs come to pass; but the end is not yet," 12 
says Jesus. "All these things are the begin- 
ning of travail." 13 

The warnings given to the disciples ought 
to have kept them from the error of assuming 
that the second coming of Christ and the de- 
struction of Jerusalem were parts of the same 
event, and also ought now to keep people from 



10 It is believed that Peter is the apostle whose preaching 
gave Mark, the substance of his Gospel, which was probably the 
first to appear. 

11 Matthew 24. 4-8; Mark 13. 5-8; Luke 21. 8-11. 

12 Matthew 24. 6; Mark 13. 7; see also Luke 21. 9. 
* 3 Matthew 24. 8; Mark 13. 8; see also Luke 21. 9. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 61 

assuming that any great catastrophe, such as 
the present European war, is sure evidence 
that Christ's second coming and the end of the 
age are at hand. 

Christ then throws into the immediate fore- 
ground those things which must occur in the 
lives of his disciples before the impending 
judgment on Jerusalem can be fulfilled. They 
are to have great tribulations and to suffer 
great persecution, "But he that endureth to the 
end, the same shall be saved." 14 Everv detail 
in this prediction was fulfilled before and dur- 
ing the siege of Jerusalem. The false Christs 
appeared. "Even now have there arisen many 
antichrists; whereby we know that it is the 
last hour." 15 "Wars and rumors of wars" were 



"Matthew 24. 4-13: 

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that 
no man lead you astray. For many shall come in my name 
saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray. And ye 
shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; 
for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. 
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against king- 
dom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places* 
But all these things are the beginning of travail. Then shall 
they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and 
ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And 
then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, 
and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall 
arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall 
be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold. But he that 
endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. 

(Compare Mark 13. 5-8; Luke 21. 8-19.) 

16 1 John 2. 18. 



62 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

abundant in Judaea from the day of Christ's 
address till Jerusalem was assaulted about 
forty years later. Jews were massacred in 
many places within and far beyond Palestine. 
"Famines and earthquakes in divers places" 
are recorded by historians of the period. True 
Christians were persecuted unto death, and 
unfaithful disciples turned against one an- 
other. That false prophets, suborned by the 
enemies of truth, stirred the people into a 
delirium of excitement is well known from 
both secular and sacred writers. 16 Of course, 
"the love of many" would "wax cold," since 
they were not sufficiently grounded to endure 
persecutions so terrible. 

The Destruction of Jerusalem 

Now follows in all three of the narratives 
a description of the vast tribulation which is 
to fall upon the people who are especially dear 
to the human heart of Jesus, and concerning 
which he gives kindly instruction to those who 
would escape its most awful miseries. 17 Again 

i6 1 John 4. 1, 2, 3. 

17 Matthew 24. 15-28: 

When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which 
was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy 
place (let him that readeth understand), then let them that 
are in Judaea flee unto the mountains: let him that is on the 
housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his 
house: and let him that is in the field not return back to take 
his cloak. But woe unto them that are with child and to them 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 63 

we see the plain marks of identification with 
the destruction of Jerusalem and the conse- 
quent desolation of the Jews. The polluting 
of the temple both by Jews and aliens through 
civil discord and idolatrous profanation — the 
very climax of sacrilege — literally came to 
pass. The horrors of the siege cannot be set 
forth in words. Within the walls of the city 
was crowded a vast concourse of people who 
had come to celebrate the passover. The Jew- 
ish patriots were divided into three factions, 
and these frequently turned from their com- 
bined assaults upon the besieging Roman army 
to furious conflicts among themselves. The 
temple areas were drenched in human gore, 
which was mingled with the blood of the reli- 
gious sacrifices. Captive Jews were crucified 

that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight 
be not in the winter, neither on a sabbath: for then shall be 
great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of 
the world until now, no, nor ever shall be. And except those 
days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved: but 
for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if 
any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; 
believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false 
prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead 
astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you 
beforehand. If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he 
is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner cham- 
bers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh forth from the 
east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming 
of the Son of man. Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the 
eagles be gathered together. 

(Compare Mark 13. 14-23; Luke 21. 20-24.) 



64 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

by hundreds in plain sight of their kinsmen, 
and the wretched people inside the walls per- 
ished by famine and indescribable cruelties. 
More than a million Jews were slain during 
this siege, which lasted six months, and a hun- 
dred thousand were sold into slavery. When 
Jerusalem fell the Jewish nation ceased. In 
a very deep sense it was indeed "the end of 
the age." 

The advice to flee to the mountains and to 
avoid being detained by any wish to recover 
personal property, the miseries predicted for 
nursing mothers, for those whose flight was in 
the winter, for those who on the Sabbath must 
for conscience sake tarry in their flight, and 
the whole vivid picture of tribulation "such as 
hath not been seen from the beginning of the 
world/' find justification in the actual scenes 
of that frightful catastrophe. 

Luke introduces his record of this section of 
the discourse, not, as Matthew and Mark, by 
a quotation from Daniel, but with the words, 
"When ye see Jerusalem compassed with 
armies, then know that her desolation is at 
hand/' and concludes it with the words, "And 
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gen- 
tiles, until the times of the Gentiles be ful- 
filled. 18 It was truly the end of an age. The 

18 Luke 21. 20, 24. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 65 

words suggest that the overthrow of Jerusalem 
would be followed by a long era of desolation, 
which is precisely what has occurred. The 
words, "and except those days had been short- 
ened, no flesh would have been saved/' seem 
perfectly natural when applied to this catas- 
trophe; as do also the words "but for the 
elect's sake those days shall be shortened.'' 19 
We need ask no other application. 

When Jesus says: "This generation shall 
not pass away, till all these things be accom- 
plished," 20 he refers without doubt to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem. Those who make this 
passage a part of Christ's prediction of his sec- 
ond coming try to show that the word "gen- 
eration" means the whole Jewish race, and say 
that it is obvious that this generation, or race, 
has not vanished, and, according to prophecy, 
never will. But this is straining beyond rea- 
son and need not detain us. Without a theory 
to support probably no one would ever think 
of calling "this generation" anything but what 
it would naturally mean, the people living in 
the time w T hen Christ was speaking. Of course 
the removing of Judaism as the great obstacle 
to the gospel was the beginning of the end, and 
the destruction of Jerusalem was a symbol of 



19 Matthew 24. 22. 

20 Matthew 24. 34; Mark 13. 30; Luke 21. 32. 



66 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAltf 

final judgment. In that sense the passages 
might be shaped toward the second advent, but 
this is not the simple interpretation which 
plain sense would dictate. 

We know that the disciples believed that 
Christ's second coming would occur either in 
connection with or shortly after the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. This will account for the 
fact that in reporting this discourse, when the 
disasters connected with the fall of the capital 
have been described, Matthew's Gospel says, 
"Immediately after the tribulation of those 
days/' 21 and Mark's "In those days, after that 
tribulation," 22 terrible manifestations of na- 
ture would presage the instant coming of 
Christ to judgment. Their inference from the 
words of our Lord was wrong, as we know, but 
as time in Christ's view is not measured by our 
little standards, we need have no trouble in 
reconciling this prediction with the facts. The 
interval may seem long to us, but to him it is 
but a watch in the night. 

While it is true that the parable of the fig 
tree is one of those universal illustrations 
which in this instance could be applied either 
to the tokens that the destruction of Jerusalem 
was approaching, or that the end of the world 

21 Matthew 24. 29. 
m Mark 13. 24. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 67 

was hastening, yet when found in such close 
connection with the statement, "This genera- 
tion shall not pass away till all be fulfilled/' 
as recorded in each Gospel, it would seem to 
be best understood in connection with the 
nearer event. 

A similar judgment may be expressed with 
regard to several of the parables used by our 
Lord to illustrate the necessity of watchful- 
ness and faithfulness, though this cannot be 
said with certainty concerning those illustra- 
tions which end with some such words as "So 
shall be the coming of the Son of man." 23 

The Farther Event 

We may now consider those parts of this 
discourse which clearly and unmistakably 
point to the second advent of our Lord. When 
Jesus says, "This gospel of the kingdom shall 
be preached in the whole w r orld for a testimony 
unto all the nations; and then shall the end 
come," 24 he is giving a note of time concerning 
the era of his return. By no natural method 
of interpretation can these words be applied to 
the destruction of Jerusalem or the beginning 
of what is called the Christian dispensation, 
though persons with a theory to support have 

23 Matthew 24. 39, 44. 
"Matthew 24. 14; Mark 14. 10. 



68 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

really undertaken to give them this applica- 
tion. 25 

"For as the lightning cometh forth from the 
east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall 
be the coming of the Son of man/' 26 is evi- 
dently a straight declaration that, though his 
return is to be sudden, it will be unmistakable 
and the whole world will know that he has 
come back. 

Yet the exact time of his return is hidden 
from every mind except that of the divine 
Father. "Of that day and hour knoweth no 
one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the 
Son, but the Father only." 27 

However, there is a considerable period to 
intervene before his return, for "Jerusalem 
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the 
times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." 28 We are 
still in this stretch of history, and no man 
knows how much longer it will continue. 

Whatever length of time will precede the 
second coming of Christ, he will find the world 
preoccupied with its customary order of life 
when he arrives. "And as were the days of 
Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. 



25 See pages 102-104, where this question has attention. 

26 Matthew 24. 27. 

27 Matthew 24. 36; Mark 13. 32; Luke 21. 36. 

28 Luke 21. 24. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 69 

For as in those days which were before the 
flood they were eating and drinking, marrying 
and giving in marriage, until the day that 
Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not 
until the flood came and took them all away; 
so shall be the coming of the Son of man." 29 

What stupendous changes are to take place 
in the world at Christ's second coming we may 
learn from this impressive prophecy: "But 
immediately after the tribulation of those days 
the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall 
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be 
shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the 
Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the 
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see 
the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory." 30 

It may be said with perfect reverence for 
God's holy word that this language is highly 
figurative, as is much of the ancient prophetic 

29 Matthew 24. 37-39. Compare Luke 17. 26, 27. 

30 Matthew 24. 29-31; see also Mark 13. 24-27. Luke's lan- 
guage is most picturesque and varied (Luke 21. 25-28): 

And there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and 
upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring 
of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear, and for expecta- 
tion of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers 
of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall they see the 
Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But 
when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up 
your heads ; because your redemption draweth nigh. See page 236. 



70 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

literature, with which the minds of Jesus and 
his disciples were filled. 31 When Christ comes 
to take up the government of the world in per- 
son, vast and revolutionary changes will occur 
in the social, political, and moral structures, 
as has always been shown whenever God by 
some direct visitation has interfered with the 
history of nations. It is unprofitable to guess 
at the precise meaning of these symbolical 
words. It is enough to know that at Christ's 
coming mighty transformations will result. If 
the reader feels that to suggest symbolism here 
is to depart from our fixed purpose to take the 
Bible as we find it, or that hinting at a figura- 
tive interpretation of this passage is "handling 
the word of God deceitfully," he should turn 
to Peter's address on the day of Pentecost and 
read how the apostle made the prophecy of 
Joel an explanation of what was then hap- 
pening : 

"And it shall be in the last days, saith God, 
I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh : 
And your sons and your daughters shall 

prophesy, 
And your young men shall see visions, 
And your old men shall dream dreams : 
Yea, and on my servants and on my hand- 
maidens in those days 

» Isaiah 13. 10; 34. 4; Ezekiel 32. 7, 8; Amos 9. 13; Joel 2. 28-32. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 71 

Will I pour forth of my Spirit ; and they shall 

prophesy. 
And I will show wonders in the heaven above, 
And signs on the earth beneath ; 
Blood, and fire, and vapor and smoke : 
The sun shall be turned into darkness, 
And the moon into blood, 
Before the day of the Lord come, 
That great and notable day; 
And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on 

the name of the Lord shall be saved." 32 
Now, the physical portents described in this 
prophecy did not come to pass, though other 
wonders equally great did occur. Yet Peter 
says what befell on that day was in fulfillment 
of what had been predicted by Joel centuries 
before, and Peter was under the guidance of 
the same Holy Spirit who had inspired Joel. 
Our Lord's language is pictorial and vivid, and 
it makes a profound impression, as he intended 
it should. Similar prophecies are found in the 
Old Testament, 33 and the same figures are am- 
plified in the book of Revelation and else- 
where. 34 They are not wise who belittle these 
words by making them refer to eclipses or 
showers of meteors, or who stretch them to 



32 Acts 2. 7-21 ; see also Joel 2. 28-32. 

33 See page 70, footnote 31. 

34 Revelation 20. 11; 21. 1; 2 Peter 3. 10-13. 



72 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

mean the literal destruction of sun, moon, and 
stars. On the promise of a new heaven and a 
new earth we may rely, but to insist that the 
prophecy in this discourse requires a dissolu- 
tion of nature is unwarranted. 

That Christ will, at his return, accompanied 
by a convoy of angels, "gather together his 
elect from the four winds, from one end of 
heaven to the other" 35 is one of those sublime 
facts without which his second coming would 
have no great significance, but upon which the 
soul of the believer rests with unlimited com- 
fort and assurance. 

Looking Backward and Forward 

Let us now return to the incident which led 
to Christ's remarkable prophecy. He and his 
disciples have been surveying the temple, the 
courts of which had been polluted by unholy 
practices, an act of profanation which Jesus 
had but recently rebuked with stern words and 
deeds. Our Lord has just been saying that 
this splendid temple, its white marble struc- 
tures glistening like a mountain of snow, its 
gilded roofs and pinnacles shining with daz- 
zling luster, shall one day be utterly over- 
thrown and with it shall fall the sacred city 
over whose approaching ruin he has but a 

" Matthew 24. 31; Mark 13. 27. 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 73 

little time since poured out a heart-breaking 
lamentation. In the Saviour's mind the up- 
permost thoughts are the transitory nature of 
all things earthly, and the everlasting security 
of his spiritual mission. "Heaven and earth 
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass 
away." 36 This utterance is the key to the 
whole discourse. His mind sweeps over the 
area of time yet to be and hovers over the 
triumphant end of the age when he shall de- 
liver up the Kingdom to his Father. 

But the question of the disciples, "When 
shall these things be?" constrains him to begin 
his prophecy at the point of time which he 
and they are occupying. The destruction of 
Jerusalem and its attendant circumstances of 
misery and woe — these are analogous to the 
final judgment of the world. Indeed, they 
are the fulfillment of the predicted punish- 
ment of unfaithful Israel. They constitute the 
tribulation at the end of Judaism which fore- 
casts the final tribulation at the end of the 
world. Here we have a prefiguring and sym- 
bolizing of the judgment which would be pro- 
nounced upon all mankind when he should 
return. 

Now, it is a fact which the history of two 
thousand years has established, that nothing 

36 Matthew 24. 35. 



74 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

so epoch-making, so universal in its effect upon 
the progress of Christianity, has appeared 
since Christ's departure ; and it is safe to pre- 
dict that nothing more significant will occur 
in the interval, long or short, which precedes 
his return. The breaking up of the Jewish 
nation and the scattering of Israel far and 
wide was the greatest and most revolutionary 
event which could mark the close of one dis- 
pensation and the beginning of another. 

But there was even more than the blending 
of two widely separated events, something 
more than the mere analogy between one event 
and the other. The destruction of Jerusalem 
and the desolation of Israel actually stood in 
the foreground of a picture, the vista of which 
extended into the far-off ages. In the imme- 
diate future stood this great catastrophe, and 
far beyond it, rising like a distant peak above 
the broad plain stretching between, arose the 
tragic fact of the ultimate judgment of the 
world. Something like this occurred in the 
experience of the ancient Hebrew prophets. 
They predicted a visitation upon Israel, fol- 
lowed by a deliverance through the Messiah. 
Their language would indicate that they 
thought this was coming almost immediately. 
The delineations have all the coloring and cir- 
cumstances of a local, national event. So the 



CHRIST'S GREAT PROPHECY 75 

matter stood in the foreground of their in- 
spired imaginations. But we who live in later 
times know that their prophecies had to do 
with an event long removed from their point 
of vision. Seven hundred years after Isaiah 
proclaimed the coming of the Messiah, Christ 
entered the world; not to be the deliverer of 
the Jewish nation, but to be the Christ of all 
nations. Isaiah prophesied about Judah and 
Jerusalem and about the glory of the Messi- 
anic kingdom. We see his predictions fulfilled, 
not in a local prince such as he described, the 
head of the Jewish nation, but a cosmopoli- 
tan deliverer to whose standard all peoples 
shall ultimately yield. 

Thus, when Jesus predicted the final judg- 
ment there stood in his mind first of all the 
terrible desolation of Judaism, and far beyond 
that, through the haze of many centuries, ap- 
peared the final judgment, of which the siege 
of Jerusalem was a type, an analogy, a symbol. 
Those who heard him in this great discourse 
saw only the near event, and from his lan- 
guage, which perhaps was open to such a con- 
struction, they argued that the end of the age 
and the return of their Lord would be coinci- 
dent with the final judgment. This confusion 
they transmitted to following generations. 

Reading the matter now in the light of his- 



76 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

tory, we can readily mark the distinction. We 
see the type, the analogy, the symbol : and we 
look across the long centuries which have fol- 
lowed and say that Christ surely meant that 
his coming again was an event of the remote 
future. So clear, however, was his own vision 
and with such ease did he sweep over the vast 
territory lying between these two points that 
they virtually appeared together. The dis- 
tance vanished and the sharply outlined facts 
came into immediate relationship. Thus, in 
certain parts of the world, where the atmos- 
phere is exceedingly clear, mountains which 
are many miles apart seem to stand so close 
to the beholder that he could hurl a stone 
against their sides. But when he attempts 
to do this he finds that the missile falls far 
short of the object at which he has aimed. So, 
through the clear vision that Christ had of the 
future the far-off event was brought into such 
proximity to the immediate time that in his 
own speech there is little to mark the space 
which lies between. History is day by day 
slowly but surely measuring the distance. 



CHAPTER IV 

HOW AND WHY IS CHRIST COMING 

AGAIN? 

In the discourse which we studied in the 
last chapter we find plain intimations of the 
manner, purpose, and time of our Lord's re- 
turn. These we shall now examine more 
closely and compare them with predictions 
contained in other passages of the New Testa- 
ment. 

The Manner of Christ's Second Coming 

It might be held that the precise way in 
which our Lord will return to the earth is a 
matter of minor importance, if it were not for 
the fact that the character of his second advent 
bears directly upon the purpose of his coming. 
When he made his first bodily appearance in 
the world it was as a helpless babe in the 
arms of an obscure peasant mother. When he 
comes the second time it will be as the risen, 
ascended, glorified and triumphant Lord of 
angels and men. 

The Scriptures are very explicit about this. 
Jesus said, "The Son of man shall come in the 

77 



78 WHEN CHRIST 1 COMES AGAIH 

glory of his Father with his angels" ;* that he 
"shall sit on the throne of his glory/' 2 and that 
he shall be seen "coming on the clouds of 
heaven" with power and great glory. 3 He 

drew a vivid picture of regal splendor in the 
words, "But when the Son of man shall come 
in his glory, and all the angels with him, then 
shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and 
before him shall be gathered all the nations." 4 
It is as a king that he is coming. 

As befits royalty, he will come with great 
publicity. As at the destruction of Jerusalem 
false prophets and false Christs arose, and as 
through all succeeding ages similar deceivers 
have appeared, so in the days to come impos- 
tors will brazenly set up their claims to divine 
authority. But Jesus warned his disciples, 
"Behold, I have told you beforehand. If there- 
fore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in 
the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is 
in the inner chambers ; believe it not. For as 
the lightning cometh forth from the east and 
is seen even unto the west ; so shall be the com- 
ing of the Son of man." 5 



1 Matthew 16. 27. 

2 Matthew 19. 28. 

3 Matthew 26. 64; see also Mark 14. 62. Compare Matthew 
24. 30; Mark 13. 26; Luke 21. 27. 

4 Matthew 25. 31. 

5 Matthew 24. 25-28; see also Mark 13. 21-23. 



MANNER OF COMING 79 

There will be no chance of mistake. He will 
be revealed universally, not as at his first ad- 
vent, when wise men came from the east in- 
quiring "Where is he that is born King of the 
Jews?" 6 When he returns "every eye shall see 
him, and they that pierced him." 7 If people 
who are deceived by such avowed seers as 
"Pastor" Russell, Mary Baker Eddy, and 
others who have professed to usher in the new 
age by a spiritual second coming of Christ, had 
been better students of the Bible, they would 
have saved themselves from much humiliation. 
Christ's return will be unmistakable, and the 
fact of it will not be concealed from any 
creature. 

Yet our Lord's coming will be so sudden and 
unexpected that the most frequent figure to 
characterize it is that of the "thief in the 
night." This is the simile used by Christ him- 
self ; 8 and it is adopted by Paul, 9 by Peter, 10 
and by the author of the Apocalypse. 11 Liter- 
alists might insist that such passages mean 
that Christ at his second coming will enter 
the world unobserved ; but this would be press- 
ing a figure beyond the plain purpose for 
which it was chosen. 



6 Matthew 2. 2. • 1 Thessalonians 5. 2. 

7 Revelation 1.7. 10 2 Peter 3. 10. 

8 See Matthew 24. 43. u See Revelation 3. 3; 16. 15. 



80 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

It is recorded that while the disciples were 
watching the ascension of their Lord they were 
addressed by two men in white raiment who 
said : "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye look- 
ing into heaven? this Jesus, who was received 
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye beheld him going into heaven." 12 
Some scholars claim that the phrase, "in like 
manner," simply refers to the fact of Christ's 
return, and not to the process of it. As he 
went into heaven, so he will come out of 
heaven. The distinction is of no serious 
weight. 

A detail given by Paul is most interesting. 
He says, "The Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the 
archangel, and with the trump of God." 13 It 
would not seem important, apart from the 
relation of the manner of Christ's coming to 
his purpose, whether he returned on a radiant 
cloud, or a foam-crested wave of the sea; in 
solitary grandeur, or surrounded by a pom- 
pous retinue ; with silence accompanying him, 
or attended by angelic choirs and celestial 
trumpeters. But it is the King who is coming 
to take his throne, and before him every 
knee shall bow, and to him every tongue 

W ActS 1. 11. 

13 1 Thessalonians 4. 16. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 81 

shall make confession of submission to his 
scepter. 14 

The Purpose of Christ's Second Coming 

One of the parables Jesus employs to illus- 
trate the significance of his return describes 
a man who, before taking a journey to a for- 
eign country, calls his servants together and 
places his property in their hands, assigning 
to them in trust the proportion he feels that 
each is capable of handling. "Now after a 
long time the lord of those servants cometh, 
and maketh a reckoning with them/' and each 
is rewarded according to the manner in which 
he has discharged his responsibility. 15 Christ's 
return will be distinguished, therefore, by the 
measuring out of recompense. "And he shall 
send forth his angels with a great sound of a 
trumpet, and they shall gather together his 
elect from the four winds, and from one end 
of the heaven to the other. " 16 Thev shall not 
only be separated from the mass of mankind, 
but they shall also be appointed to their eter- 
nal destiny of blessing. The expectation of 
this was a perpetual joy to Paul, who could 
say at the close of his ministry : "I am already 



14 Philippians 2. 4-11. 

15 Matthew 25. 14-30. 

18 Matthew 24. 31; see also Mark 13. 27. 



82 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

being offered, and the time of my departure is 
come. I have fought the good fight, I have fin- 
ished the course, I have kept the faith : hence- 
forth there is laid up for me the crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
judge, shall give to me at that day; and not 
to me only, but also to all them that have loved 
his appearing." 17 

Judgment 

Retribution as well as reward is necessarily 
meted out by the Lord who comes to make 
reckoning with his servants. In Christ's apoc- 
alyptic discourse the punishment of the faith- 
less is by suggestion and implication made 
more prominent than the recompense of the 
faithful. Yet all are to be judged, for judg- 
ment looks both to the righteous and the un- 
righteous. "When the Son of man shall come 
in his glory, and all the angels with him, then 
shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and 
before him shall be gathered all the nations: 
and he shall separate them one from another, 
as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the 
goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right 
hand, but the goats on the left." 18 

The judgment includes not merely the 
Jewish people, but all kindreds and tongues 

" 2 Timothy 4. 6-8. 
18 Matthew 25. 31-33. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 83 

on the face of the earth. The gospel will then 
have been preached everywhere, or its ideals 
will have been presented to everybody, so that 
all will have had opportunity to accept the re- 
demption which is in Christ. The judgment 
will, therefore, be fair even when gauged by 
human standards of equity, though entirely 
apart from man's opinions the Judge of all 
the earth must be incapable of doing wrong. 19 
"He will judge the world in righteousness." 20 
The heathen who perished without having 
heard of Christ will be judged on a basis well 
portrayed in the words, "Inasmuch as ye did 
it [or did it not] unto one of these my breth- 
ren, even these least, ye did it [or did it not] 
unto me." 21 That apparently will also be the 
determining factor in the judgment of all. The 
ancient Jews w r ill be judged according to their 
response to the word of the Lord, however 
communicated in the ages preceding the ad- 
vent of the Messiah. The whole human family 
will be under judicial scrutiny when the Son 
of man comes at the end of the world. 22 

How large a part this expectation of judg- 
ment played in the thought of the early Chris- 
tians we see from the frequent references made 
to it in the Acts of the Apostles and in the 

19 Genesis 18. 25. 21 Matthew 25. 40, 45. 

20 Psalm 9. 8. »2 Corinthians 5. 10; Romans 14. 10-12. 



84 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

various apostolic epistles. Peter, addressing 
Cornelius and his household of kinsmen and 
friends, declares that Christ commanded him 
"to preach unto the people, and to testify that 
this is he who is ordained of God to be the 
Judge of the living and the dead." 23 Paul, 
standing on Mars' Hill, tells the Athenians: 
"The times of ignorance therefore God over- 
looked ; but now he commandeth men that they 
should all everywhere repent : inasmuch as he 
hath appointed a day in which he will judge 
the world in righteousness by the man whom 
he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assur- 
ance unto all men, in that he hath raised him 
from the dead." 24 

Christ is pictured as peering into the inner- 
most recesses of the soul, "in the day when God 
shall judge the secrets of men, according to 
my gospel, by Jesus Christ." 25 He is described 
as opening all that is obscure in human life. 
"Wherefore judge nothing before the time, 
until the Lord come, who will both bring to 
light the hidden things of darkness, and make 
manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then 
shall each man have his praise from God." 26 
It is he before whom we are to strive to appear 
"unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus 



23 Acts 10. 42; see also 2 Timothy 4. 1. 26 Romans 2. 16. 

24 Acts 17. 30, 31. 28 1 Corinthians 4. 5. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 85 

Christ," 27 and in whose presence, if we are 
faithful, we "may have whereof to glory in the 
day of Christ." 28 We are to wait for God's 
Son from heaven, "whom he raised from the 
dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the 
wrath to come." 29 It is he who is to establish 
our "hearts unblamable in holiness before our 
God and Father, at the coming of our Lord 
Jesus with all his saints." 30 

The estate of men in the future is made to 
depend on their earthly attitude toward Him 
who is coming to judge all. "Whosoever shall 
be ashamed of me and my words in this adul- 
terous and sinful generation, the Son of man 
also shall be ashamed of him, when he cometh 
in the glory of his Father." 31 To stand un- 
abashed in his presence is the strong incentive 
to fidelity. "And now, my little children, abide 
in him ; that, if he shall be manifested, we may 
have boldness, and not be ashamed before him 
at his coming." 32 

Retribution 

It is the failure to meet the test of fidelity 



27 1 Corinthians, 1. 8; see also Philippians 1. 10; 1 Thessa- 
lonians 5. 23; 1 Timothy 6. 13-15. 
28 Philippians 2. 16. 
2 U Thessalonians 1. 10. 

30 1 Thessalonians 3. 13. 

31 Mark 8. 38; Luke 9. 26. 

32 1 John 2. 28. 



86 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

which will bring incalculable loss and endur- 
ing penalty at the coming of the Lord. The 
sharp contrast between the felicity of the faith- 
ful and the misery of the faithless is vividly 
expressed in the parable of the tares. "The 
Son of man shall send forth his angels, and 
they shall gather out of his kingdom all things 
that cause stumbling, and them that do iniq- 
uity, and shall cast them into the furnace of 
fire ; there shall be the weeping and the gnash- 
ing of teeth." 33 This will take place "at the 
revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ from 
heaven with the angels of his power in flaming 
fire, rendering vengeance to them that know 
not God, and to them that obey not the gospel 
of our Lord Jesus; who shall suffer punish- 
ment, even eternal destruction from the face 
of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 
when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, 
and to be marveled at in all them that be- 
lieved (because our testimony unto you was 
believed) in that day." 34 The dark aspects of 
the judgment, on which the apostles dwell with 
an emphasis which is startling, seem to war- 
rant the appeal to fear which many preachers 
of Christ in our day use with great effect. 
"Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands 



3» Matthew 13. 24-30; 37-43. 
u 2 Thessalonians 1. 7-10. 



PUKPOSE OF COMING 87 

of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon 
all, and to convict all the ungodly of their 
works of ungodliness which they have ungodly 
wrought, and of all the hard things which 
ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 35 

Yet what is so sinister to the wicked is 
everlasting blessedness to the righteous. The 
reward of fidelity is a character conformed to 
that of Christ. "Beloved, now are we children 
of God, and it is not yet made manifest what 
we shall be. We know that, if he shall be 
manifested, we shall be like him ; for we shall 
see him even as he is. And everv one that hath 
this hope set on him purifieth himself, even as 
he is pure." 36 

Resurrection 

Judgment necessitates resurrection. Noth- 
ing is specifically said about this in Christ's 
apocalyptic discourse, though it is implied in 
the gathering of the elect from the four quar- 
ters of the globes But in the parable of the 
final judgment 37 it is affirmed that "all the 
nations" shall appear before Christ at his com- 
ing, and this expression must include all who 
sleep in the dust, as well as those who will be 
treading the globe at his appearing. 

35 Jude 14, 15; see also Revelation 14. 14-16; Revelation 20. 12-15. 

» 1 John 3. 2, 3. 

37 Matthew 25. 31-46. 



88 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

The moment our minds are turned to the 
connection between judgment and resurrection 
we see how indispensable is the fourth Gospel. 
John says nothing about Christ's apocalyptic 
discourse. He was thoroughly acquainted 
with its contents, having been one of the dis- 
ciples to whom it was privately communicated. 
Yet he makes no mention of it. Either he 
thought this unnecessary for his purpose, 
which was to persuade men to believe in Christ 
unto eternal life, 38 or he felt that what he was 
to report of Christ's teachings on judgment 
and resurrection was a sufficient and, at the 
time he wrote, a more important contribution 
to the subject. 

Those who think that the second coming of 
Christ, as described in decidedly materialistic 
or physical terms by the other evangelists and 
some of the apostles, is the one staple doc- 
trine of the Christian religion, without which 
all other tenets are meaningless, will have 
some difficulty in reconciling themselves to 
the significant silence of John in respect to 
these features so prominent in certain other 
writings of the New Testament. John does 
not avoid the idea of Christ's coming to final 
judgment, but he does not make it of cen- 
tral interest. Others had said nothing about 

38 John 20. 31. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 89 

resurrection as preceding judgment. That 
thought would be implied even when not ex- 
pressed, but he gives it much attention. 

Furthermore, he brings out the spiritual 
meaning of the resurrection as a present ex- 
perience. When Jesus told Martha that her 
brother should rise again, she said unto him, 
"I know that he shall rise again in the resur- 
rection of the last day." Then Jesus said, "I 
am the resurrection, and the life; he that be- 
lieveth on me, though he die, yet shall he live ; 
and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall 
never die." 39 Here is a clear reference both 
to the final summons of the body to judgment 
and also to the possibility of a personal and 
present resurrection through faith in Jesus 
Christ, the latter being spiritual and not 
material. 

Present Spiritual Realities 

In the great passage, John 5 : 25-29 inclu- 
sive, we have the same distinction clearly 
brought out. It is preceded by a general state- 
ment: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He 
that heareth my word, and believeth him that 
sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into 
judgment, but hath passed out of death into 
life." 40 Jesus then proceeds to make even 

"John 11. 25, 26. 40 John 5. 24. 



90 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

more definite his explanation of the spiritual 
resurrection, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead 
shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and 
they that hear shall live." 41 Here it is very 
apparent that what is implied is a spiritual 
resurrection. All the people who are dead, in 
the sense of being without the spiritual life 
of fellowship with God, who hear his voice 
and respond to it shall live, in the sense of 
coming into that fellowship. Jesus reiterates 
the statement that he has the power thus to 
give life to those who are dead in trespasses 
and sins. "For as the Father hath life in him- 
self, even so gave he to the Son also to have 
life in himself." 42 There is coupled with this 
a like "authority to execute judgment, because 
he is a son of man." 43 This apparently creates 
astonishment in the minds of those who are 
listening to him, and he then proceeds to pass 
over from a consideration of the spiritual res- 
urrection and judgment to the final resurrec- 
tion and judgment. He says, "Marvel not at 
this : for the hour cometh, in which all that are 
in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall 
come forth ; they that have done good, unto the 

« John 5. 25. 

f 42 John 5. 26. 

« John 5. 27. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 91 

resurrection of life; and they that have done 
evil, unto the resurrection of judgment." 44 
Here, it is to be noted, all that are in their 
graves are to hear his voice. But not all of 
these are to live, in a spiritual sense, but only 
those who have done good. Those who have 
done evil are reserved for condemnation. It is 
not said of them that they shall live. The im- 
plication is that in the spiritual significance 
they shall continue to be dead. Thus, at the 
final judgment only those who have lived spir- 
itually are appointed to everlasting glory, and 
those who have not lived are appointed to ever- 
lasting shame. This has an important bearing 
upon John's conception of the second coming 
of Christ. He believes thoroughly in the final 
judgment, but he also puts forward what was 
overlooked by the other writers, namely, the 
fact that the process of resurrection and judg- 
ment is continuously going forward. 

In the farewell address of Jesus as recorded 
by John (14th to 17th chapters inclusive) 
Jesus is represented as elaborating an even 
more luminous conception of his spiritual 
power among men. He says, "If I go and pre- 
pare a place for you, I come again, and will 
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there 
ye may be also." 45 That is a plain intimation 

« John 5. 28, 29. « John 14. 3 f 



92 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

of the final coming of our Lord to reward those 
who have been faithful to him. But this is not 
to be regarded as his only coming, for he also 
says that by the spiritual union with them they 
shall be conscious of his presence. "I will not 
leave you desolate: I come unto you. Yet a 
little while, and the world beholdeth me no 
more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye 
shall live also. In that day ye shall know that 
I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in 
you." 46 In the sixteenth chapter this idea is 
still further developed. Here he shows that 
the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, 
is really his own coming to give spiritual guid- 
ance and illumination to them, "Howbeit 
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall 
guide you into all the truth : for he shall not 
speak from himself ; but what things soever he 
shall hear, these shall he speak : and he shall 
declare unto you the things that are to come. 
He shall glorify me : for he shall take of mine, 
and shall declare it unto you. All things what- 
soever the Father hath are mine : therefore said 
I, that he taketh of mine, and shall declare it 
unto you." 47 

Some devout students of the New Testament 
say that this explains what Jesus meant when 
he said, "There are some of them that stand 

*• John 14. 18-20. « John 16. 13-15. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 93 

here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till 
they see the Son of man coming in his king- 
dom. V48 They felt this spiritual presence in 
their own hearts after his bodily presence had 
been withdrawn from them, and they had a 
mighty confirmation of it when, on the day of 
Pentecost, with great power the Son of man 
did manifest himself bv various wondrous ex- 
hibitions and especially in the conversion of a 
great multitude of people. It will, therefore, 
be seen that in the Gospel of John we not only 
have a new element added to the general doc- 
trine of the second coming of Christ, but we 
also have a more profoundly spiritual inter- 
pretation of that event than it is customary 
for some strong advocates of the second advent 
to welcome when they dilate upon this doc- 
trine. 

A Double Resurrection 

When we proceed to examine the writings of 
Paul we find that the resurrection of the bodv 
is by him identified with the spiritual resur- 
rection through obedience to Christ. The 
aspiration ~of the great apostle is, "If by any 
means I may attain unto the resurrection from 
the dead." 49 This is to be wrought through 
a personal identity of experience with Christ 
in suffering and death. The result of this will 



48 Matthew 16. 28. 49 Philippians 3. 11 . 



94 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

be a marvelous transformation. "For our citi- 
zenship is in heaven ; whence also we wait for 
a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall 
fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that 
it may be conformed to the body of his glory, 
according to the working whereby he is able 
even to subject all things unto himself. 50 

The process of that wonderful transforma- 
tion Paul has recorded in words of immortal 
beauty: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: we 
all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at 
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, 
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and 
we shall be changed. For this corruptible 
must put on incorruption, and this mortal 
must put on immortality. But w r hen this cor- 
ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and 
this mortal shall have put on immortality, 
then shall come to pass the saying that is writ- 
ten, Death is swallowed up in victory." 51 

The order of the resurrection in Paul's 
thought gives precedence to those who are 
asleep in Christ. "But we would not have you 
ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall 
asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, 



w Philippians 3. 20, 21. See Burial Service, Discipline of 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 
« 1 Corinthians 15. 51-54. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 95 

who have no hope. For if we believe that 
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also 
that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring 
with him. For this we say unto you by the 
word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that 
are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in 
no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 
For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the 
archangel, and with the trump of God: and 
the dead in Christ shall rise first ; then we that 
are alive, that are left, shall together with 
them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the 
Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with 
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another 
with these words.'' 52 "But each in his own 
order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that 
are Christ's, at his coming." 53 

Climax of the Advent 

Thus the purpose of Christ's second coming 
is truly to finish his mediatorial ministry on 
the earth, and to establish before all intelli- 
gences his claims to universal sovereignty. His 
enemies shall be mute in their own defense, 
though they mourn when he comes to judg- 
ment. 54 "Then cometh the end, when he shall 

« 1 Thessalonians 4. 13-18. 
63 1 Corinthians 15. 23. 
"Matthew 24. 30; Revelation 1. 7. 



96 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

deliver up the kingdom to God, even the 
Father; when he shall have abolished all rule 
and all authority and power. For he must 
reign, till he hath put all his enemies under 
his feet. The last enemy that shall be abol- 
ished is death." 55 

With the abolition of death, life in its 
highest possibilities will move on forever. The 
invisible world will become visible. The celes- 
tial will absorb and transfigure the terrestrial. 
What science and philosophy have vaguely 
dreamed to be true will be proved fact — be- 
yond the material universe is the real universe, 
of which the physical order known to man is 
but the symbol. At Christ's second coming 
the invisible will break in upon the visible, the 
eternal will envelop the temporal. No might- 
ier overthrow of the materialism which counts 
at highest worth the things of time and sense 
could be imagined. 

The mastery of matter by mind, of flesh by 
spirit, so frequently foreshadowed in the 
earthly achievements of man, will be estab- 
lished with unquestionable emphasis when 
Christ comes again. In glorified bodies we 
shall live, indifferent to external difficulties, 
since these will have disappeared. Hunger 
and thirst, pain and anxiety, suffering and 

" 1 Corinthians 15. 24-26. 



PURPOSE OF COMING 97 

death, now so powerful to disturb the mind 
and quench the better moods of the spirit, will 
have no existence. 

With the supremacy of good over evil, at the 
coming of Christ, the last influence hostile to 
man's peace will have been banished forever. 
The purpose for which man was created will 
be realized. Body and spirit will alike be free 
from taint, and the divine image will shine in 
undimmed splendor. The new heaven and the 
new earth will mean not merely a physical 
transformation of the universe, but the regen- 
eration of human society. The dream of uni- 
versal peace and righteousness will be fulfilled. 
The knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole 
earth as the waters cover the sea. Into this 
climax of human history we shall enter with 
joy if we love our Lord's appearing. "But 
thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, 
my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmov- 
able, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor 
is not vain in the Lord." 56 



«• 1 Corinthians 15. 57, 58. 



CHAPTER V 
WHEN IS CHRIST COMING AGAIN? 

The noblest example of Gothic architecture 
in Europe is the Cathedral of Cologne, its 
great towers lifting their pinnacles more than 
five hundred feet into the sky, its vaulted ceil- 
ing springing two hundred feet from the pave- 
ment, its spacious interior adorned with col- 
umns and arches of massive strength and 
beauty. Its foundations were laid in the 
thirteenth century, and its architect went the 
way of all flesh. Generation after generation 
took up his plans and slowly carried them for- 
ward. Occasionally for long intervals the 
work languished, and parts of the structure 
were even allowed to decay. But a hundred 
years ago eagerness to finish the cathedral 
revived, funds were gathered from many 
sources, enthusiasm for the task captivated 
all Germany, and in 1880, six hundred years 
after the architect had dreamed this symphony 
in stone, the world looked upon its completed 
splendor, and praised the genius which had 
conceived it. 

Nineteen hundred years ago, in a prophetic 

98 



TIME OF HIS COMING 99 

vision of unmatched sublimity, Jesus outlined 
his conception of a world-religion, and of a 
church in which to embody it. Then he went 
away to heaven, committing to his disciples 
the task of making his dream come true, and 
promising to return some day to receive and 
reward the results of their fidelity. Genera- 
tion after generation has toiled at the plan of 
the Master, and through every century devout 
souls have wondered when the glorious edifice 
would be finished, and at w r hat hour they might 
expect their Lord. 

The earliest mention of what on the surface 
appears to be a point of time concerning the 
return of our Lord is found in connection with 
the commission Christ gave to his apostles, 
when he bestowed upon them "authority over 
unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal 
all manner of disease and all manner of sick- 
ness." 1 He then sent them out "to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel/' and warned them 
that they would meet with persecution, and 
would "be hated of all men" for his name's 
sake, but assured them, "He that endureth to 
the end, the same shall be saved," a promise 
we find in Christ's apocalyptic discourse ex- 
pressed in the same words f a fact which lends 



1 See Matthew 10. 1-23. 

* Matthew 24. 13; Mark 13. 13. 



100 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

probability to the suggestion that in the record 
of that address there is not merely what Jesus 
said on the occasion of its delivery, but also 
much which had been said by him at other 
times. Shall we say that some things he ut- 
tered then were transferred to other portions 
of the narrative from that discourse, or that 
many pregnant sayings of our Lord were re- 
peated frequently in order that they might not 
be forgotten? 

The Time of Christ's Second Coming 

In any case, after Jesus had predicted the 
trials which the apostles would confront, he 
gave them this advice and encouragement: 
"But when they persecute you in this city, flee 
into the next: for verily I say unto you, Ye 
shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, 
till the Son of man be come." 3 

What can the phrase "till the Son of man 
be come" mean? As far back as Chrysostom 
it was regarded as equivalent to, "till help 
shall come from the Son of man," but this is 
altogether too vague. Others have interpreted 
it to signify "till Christ shall be triumphant," 
as in his resurrection he did become victorious. 
Some have asserted that the words refer to 
the coming of the Son of man in the outpour- 

» Matthew 10. 23. 



TIME OF HIS COMING 101 

ing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. 
Others have said the prophecy was fulfilled 
through the destruction of Jerusalem. But it 
is possible to conceive of this promise as lit- 
erally applied to the second advent, if we 
admit the likelihood that some Jews will still 
be hostile to Christ when he returns to judge 
the living and the dead. In such an interpre- 
tation there is nothing to intimate a definite 
hour for this event. 

In his apocalyptic discourse Jesus plainly 
intimated that his coming to the final judg- 
ment of the world would be delayed. This did 
not impress his first disciples, who were eager 
that he should return in their lifetime, and it 
does not sufficiently impress those who in this 
age are anxious that he should return. But, 
in the light of nearly two thousand years of 
history, we ought to be able to understand 
these intimations. 

In the parable of the virgins it is stated, 
"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slum- 
bered and slept." 4 In the illustration of the 
evil servant, that recreant one says, "My lord 
tarrieth." 5 In the parable of the talents it is 
said, "After a long time the lord of those serv- 
ants cometh." 6 These sentences would have 
no meaning if they were not taken to signify 

* Matthew 25. 5. 8 Matthew 24. 48. 8 Matthew 25. 19. 



102 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

that Christ was not going to return at once. 
The emphasis in each of these parables is laid 
on the certainty that he will come and the un- 
certainty of the time of his return. 

Gospel Preached Everywhere First 

What the time of that delay was to cover 
Jesus explicitly told. He said that it would 
stretch over the period needed to proclaim his 
gospel to the ends of the earth. "And this 
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in 
the whole world for a testimony unto all the 
nations ; and then shall the end come." 7 Those 
who believe that Jesus will return in the im- 
mediate future have an answer to this. They 
say that in some scriptural sense, unknown to 
us, the gospel has been preached to all nations. 
They even quote Paul as saying that the gospel 
had in his day already been preached every- 
where. 8 It is not the same thing, however, to 
speak of the gospel as having been launched 
out generally upon the world and to speak of 
it as having been preached everywhere among 
men. There are even those who say that, as- 
tonishing and incredible as it may seem, the 
early disciples of our Lord did actually dur- 
ing their lifetime preach the gospel to every 
nation. 



7 Matthew 24. 14. 8 Colossians 1. 23. 



TIME OP HIS COMING 103 

Some who are not looking for Christ's early 
return, but who believe that all prophecies 
respecting the second advent were fulfilled at 
the destruction of Jerusalem, and that no 
other coming of Christ in bodily presence is 
therefore to be expected, reduce this saying of 
Jesus to mean that it was only necessary that 
the habitable world known to the disciples of 
Jesus should receive the gospel before his re- 
turn. They point to the fact that this is what 
"the world" evidently signified to Luke, who 
in describing the throng which witnessed the 
marvels of Pentecost says, "Now there were 
dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from 
every nation under heaven;" 9 and then pro- 
ceeds to give a very limited list of peoples and 
kindreds. Other passages of similar import 
are quoted in support of this view. Perhaps 
these would be convincing if in this instance 
we were not dealing with the mind of Christ, 
rather than with the minds of ordinary men. 
Our Lord was not fettered by a popular notion. 
In his vision "the world" was far vaster than 
the civilized lands with which his disciples 
were dimly acquainted. Furthermore, he saw 
not merely the age in which his hearers were 
living, but the ages which stretched away into 
the indefinite future, with the innumerable 

•Acts 2. 5; see also verses 9, 11. 



104 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

multitudes of men and women who should 
occupy them. 

It is manifestly wrong to affirm that Christ's 
command to evangelize the world has been lit- 
erally fulfilled, while in immense areas of 
heathen blackness there are but little pin-prick 
holes through which the light of the gospel 
may shine with feeble ray. With six hundred 
and seventy-five millions of pagans now living 
on the earth who have never so much as heard 
the name of Jesus Christ, it is an offense 
against reason and a deceitful handling of the 
word of God to declare that the gospel has 
been preached as a witness unto all nations. 
Doubtless there are a few persons here and 
there in every national division of the earth 
who have heard the gospel ; but it is a foolish 
thing to say that this is what Christ meant by 
his prediction; when we know that he said 
definitely: "Go ye into all the world and 
preach the gospel to every creature." This 
involves something more than merely getting 
the gospel over the edge of a nation here and 
there. Those people who are so indolent and 
so impatient, that they want Christ to come 
back as soon as possible to do the work which 
has been committed to them, ought to remem- 
ber that he has declared he will not do this 
until they have accomplished their whole duty 



TIME OF HIS COMING 105 

by spreading the knowledge of his gospel uni- 
versally through the earth. 

Time Unknown to Jesus When on Earth 

The one statement above all others which 
should make the cock-sure heralds of Christ's 
near approach hesitate with some degree of 
modesty is this : "Of that day and hour know- 
eth no one, not even the angels of heaven, 
neither the Son, but the Father only." 10 If 
Jesus did not know in the days of his flesh, 
then we cannot be convinced that any man 
knows, for we have never met any man with 
more spiritual intelligence than Jesus. It may 
seem startling to read that Christ did not know 
the hour of his own return to the earth, but it 
is another proof that when he came to this 
world and took on himself the form of a ser- 
vant, being made in the likeness of man, he 
did indeed empty himself of the prerogatives 
and privileges of deity, as Paul said. 11 We 
know that, as a child, he increased in wisdom 
and stature ; that is, as he grew in years and 
in bodily development, so he grew in knowl- 
edge and wisdom and was subject to the same 
law of development as that to which we are 
subordinated. 12 This means that there were 



10 Matthew 24. 36; Mark 13. 32. 

11 Philippians 2. 7. 

12 Luke 2. 52. 



106 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

times when he knew more than at other times. 
He was limited and conditioned by his human 
life. 

We have sure evidence of this in the expres- 
sions he made of surprise. Sometimes he de- 
clared his astonishment at the faith of individ- 
uals, and at other times he marveled at their 
unbelief. 13 Now, the element of surprise would 
have been impossible to him had he known in 
advance everything about human beings and 
the conditions of life about him. In the days 
of his flesh, according to his own testimony 
and other scriptures, he voluntarily limited 
himself. 

It will be remembered that he said he had 
the ability to summon twelve legions of angels 
to deliver him from his enemies, but he re- 
frained from doing this. Perhaps also he 
could have known the time of his second com- 
ing had he desired it. But he had emptied 
himself of the privileges and prerogatives of 
the Godhead, and he voluntarily refused to 
inquire of the Father when this time should be. 
That limitation of himself is as sublime as any 
other element of self-restraint which we find 
in his great renunciation for the sins of the 
world. It puts him into sympathy and fellow- 
ship with all men, on a common level of priv- 

13 Matthew 8. 10; Mark 6. 6. 



TIME OF HIS COMING 107 

ilege. He did not know. The angels did not 
know. It behooves us to be a little chary about 
boasting that the times and seasons are known 
to us. 

An Interval to be Used 

Of course Christ knows now when he will 
return to the earth. Having gone back to the 
heavenly glory at the time of his ascension, he 
resumed all that of which he had emptied him- 
self at the time of his incarnation. He is on 
the throne of eternity. We preach that he is 
God. 14 But though he is omniscient, and could 
reveal the exact hour of his return to the earth, 
he has not done so. The wisdom of this reti- 
cence is perfectly obvious even when measured 
by human standards. It is not difficult to 
imagine the results which w r ould follow the 
definite fixing of the time of his return, be- 
cause we have illustrations of the conse- 
quences which have come to men and society 
when, at different periods of the world's his- 
tory, devout but misguided persons have set 
the hour for Christ's return. Then great 
laxity of devotion to duty was manifest; the 
necessary activities of life were interrupted, 
and great evils followed, which were increased 
by the disappointment experienced after the 



14 John 1.1; Colossians 2. 9. 



108 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

fixed period had passed, and it became per- 
fectly clear that Christ was not yet to return. 

Paul found it necessary to correct the im- 
pression apparently made on the minds of the 
Thessalonians by his first epistle that Christ's 
return would be almost immediately. He wrote 
to them: "Now we beseech you, brethren, 
touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and our gathering together unto him; to the 
end that ye be not quickly shaken from your 
mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or 
by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the 
day of the Lord is just at hand; let no man 
beguile you in any wise; for it will not be, 
except the falling away come first, and the man 
of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." 15 If 
there are predicted events yet to occur, it is 
puerile to say that Christ may come any 
minute. 

Nevertheless, "in an hour that ye think not 
the Son of man eometh," said Jesus; 16 for 
which reason we are enjoined, "Let your loins 
be girded about, and your lamps burning ; and 
be ye yourselves like unto men looking for 
their lord, when he shall return from the mar- 
riage feast; that, when he cometh and knock- 



15 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-3. Concerning "the man of sin" see 
pages 175-181. 

18 Matthew 24. 44. 



TIME OF HIS COMING 109 

eth, they may straightway open unto him." 17 
He will return soon. 
"For yet a very little while, 
He that cometh shall come, and shall not 

tarry." 18 
"I come quickly: hold fast that which thou 
hast, that no one take thy crown." 19 Perhaps 
Peter's words are the best explanation to be 
given to the apparent incongruity of saying 
that Christ will shortly return, and yet putting 
up milestones which must be passed before he 
can come: "But forget not this one thing, 
beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a 
thousand years, and a thousand years as one 
day." 20 

Peter addressing the throng on the day of 
Pentecost exhorts them to repent and be con- 
verted, that "there may come seasons of re- 
freshing from the presence of the Lord; and 
that he may send the Christ who hath been 
appointed for you, even Jesus: whom the 
heaven must receive until the times of restora- 
tion of all things, whereof God spake by the 
mouth of his holy prophets that have been from 
of old." 21 In Luke's narrative of Christ's 
apocalyptic discourse he says that Jerusalem 
shall be trodden under foot "until the times 



17 Luke 12. 35, 36. 20 2 Peter 3. 8; Psalm 90. 4. 

18 Hebrews 10. 37. 21 Acts 3. 19-21. 

19 Revelation 3. 11. 



110 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

of the Gentiles be fulfilled/' an expression 
which, taken in conjunction with many other 
passages of Scripture, would seem to imply a 
considerable period during which the nations 
outside of Israel would have the opportunity 
of receiving the gospel of Christ. Through 
that era we are still passing. When it will 
end depends on the zeal and wisdom with 
which Christian people push the project of 
world evangelism which Jesus entailed upon 
them. 

Those who attempt to diagram the ages, 
basing their calculations on the prophecies of 
Daniel, as though these made a calendar of the 
future, are engaged in a foolish piece of busi- 
ness. From this seer there is a quotation in 
the apocalyptic discourse of Jesus, who, there- 
fore, must have been thoroughly acquainted 
with his writings, as doubtless were also the 
disciples. Had our Lord interpreted Daniel 
as some adventists do to-day, he would not 
have said that he did not know the day or the 
hour of his return. What we know is, that 
Christ will come again, that he will come at 
a time when the world will be going on in its 
customary procedure, and when all the appear- 
ances will be against the supposition that he 
is coming. For that hour we are to await the 
decision of God. 



TIME OF HIS COMING 111 

The Sum of the Matter 

Having put together all that is essential in 
the recorded sayings of Jesus about his second 
coming, we may now ask : What is the neces- 
sary conclusion from this examination of 
Christ's personal teachings, apart from all 
human speculations and philosophic theories? 

1. We cannot accept the view held by some 
expositors, both ancient and modern, that the 
doctrine of the second advent is only a deposit 
or residuum of Judaism, which in its latest 
development before the birth of Christ was 
luxuriant in what is called apocalyptic litera- 
ture; that the notion of Christ's second coming 
was useful in sustaining the early Christians 
through their terrible persecutions, though it 
was a conception certain to give way to purer 
and more spiritual ideals after time had been 
given for reflection and experience had cor- 
rected the mistakes of the earlier period. That 
would be equivalent to saying that Jesus had 
made an error, or that the New Testament 
writers had ignorantly misrepresented Christ, 
or had willfully deceived us concerning what 
he actually said. From these alternatives we 
turn away with contempt. 

2. We cannot avoid the conviction that the 
words of Jesus were open to different inter- 



112 WHEN CHBIST COMES AGAIN 

pretations at different times, and that this is 
accountable in large measure for the confusion 
into which the minds of his disciples were 
thrown. Sometimes our Lord spoke of his 
coming again as though it were to occur dur- 
ing the lifetime of those who were listening to 
him. Sometimes, on the contrary, it is said 
that his second coming is at a distance. There 
are also parables connected with Christ's 
teaching of his second coming which would 
seem to affirm that he will come quickly and 
suddenly, and still others which apparently 
declare that he will delay his coming. After 
his resurrection he says to the disciples who 
are anxious to know whether the kingdom will 
be restored to Israel, "It is not for vou to 
know times or seasons/' 22 thus hinting that 
the period preceding his second coming is an 
indefinitely long one. 

3. We have seen how the disciples did 
confuse the destruction of Jerusalem with 
what Christ called the end of the age. May 
they not also have mixed the final coming of 
our Lord to judgment with other comings of 
the Son of man such as are expressed in the 
Gospel of John? For example, Jesus did 
come again at his resurrection, and in a visible, 
bodily form, and in a real sense his spiritual 

22 Acts 1. 7. 



TIME OF HIS COMING 113 

kingdom was then in operation on the earth. 
Again, the Son of man surely did come on the 
day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell 
upon the disciples and the Church of Christ 
w r as inaugurated with great power. Such 
comings of the Lord make it possible for us 
to understand the words of Jesus when he 
says, "This generation shall not pass away, 
till all these things be accomplished." 23 "There 
are some of them that stand here, who shall 
in no wise taste of death till they see the Son 
of man coming in his kingdom.'' 24 But such 
comings of Christ, as we have already said, are 
not to be identified with his final coming to 
judgment. 

4. For the same reasons we must distinguish 
from his final advent to judgment other alleged 
comings of the Lord : ( 1 ) Some say his second 
coming occurred at the destruction of Jeru- 
salem. In a sense this is true, but it was not 
the final coming to judge the whole earth, and 
it w r as not a visible, bodily coming. (2) Some 
say that he is always coming in the providen- 
tial occurrences of history. He came in the 
German Reformation, in the French Revolu- 
tion, in the Wesleyan Revival, in the emanci- 
pation of the slaves in the American Civil War, 

» Matthew 24. 34. 

24 Matthew 16. 28; see also Mark 9. 1; Luke 9. 27. 



114 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

in the modern revivals of religion, in the pres- 
ent European conflict, and in other great epo- 
chal events. In a sense this is true, but not 
one of these events can be called a personal 
coming of Christ to judgment which he so 
plainly predicted. (3) Some say that Christ 
is always coming at the death of each individ- 
ual, and that such parables as the virgins can 
mean only this. There is doubtless an element 
of truth in such interpretations, for at death 
there is an end of all probation and an en- 
trance into judgment. The results of charac- 
ter are actually made up, and the ultimate 
fate of the soul has been determined. Never- 
theless, this is not to be identified with a per- 
sonal, visible return of Christ such as he 
predicted. 

5. All that Jesus is recorded as saying may 
be harmonized with what is brought out most 
clearly in the Gospel of John. It is evident 
that by him the coming of the Lord was con- 
sidered under a twofold aspect. It could be 
thought of as a dispensation rather than a 
single event. It began with the spiritual ad- 
vent of Christ at his resurrection, when with 
great power he returned to assume a spiritual 
sovereignty over the sons of men, to continue 
his power through all the history of the Chris- 
tian Church until the end of the present age, 



TIME OF HIS COMING 115 

when, the spiritual work of salvation having 
been accomplished and the kingdoms of this 
world having become the kingdoms of our 
Lord, he shall come to receive his inheritance 
in a bodily, visible form, to raise the dead, to 
judge the world, and to begin his eternal and 
undisputable reign. 

With that conception of the second advent 
all that Jesus predicted is in full accord. In 
other words, the second coming of Christ will 
be at the climax of Christian development and 
not at the collapse of the Christian Church. 
His second coming is the goal of human his- 
tory and not the gulf into which all human 
development is buried. His gospel is to be 
preached everywhere. He will give every 
man a fair chance, and when the proba- 
tion is ended for individuals, and when his 
church, under his personal guidance, has car- 
ried the world forward to righteousness as 
far as it can be brought, and civilization has 
attained its fullest fruition, he will return to 
claim his own. That is, the exceedingly old 
order will have come to an end, and the glori- 
fied heavenly state will begin. 

Jesus uttered some things which confirm 
this teaching by what a plain mind, undis- 
turbed by vagaries and preconceptions, ought 
to regard as unmistakable proofs. In spite of 



116 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

the fact that his coming at the climax will find 
many people unprepared and everything going 
along as before, and in spite of the fact that 
alarming potents will accompany the advent, 
Jesus taught that this approach would be 
gradual and that the progress of his kingdom 
upon the earth would be continuous. In his 
parable of the leaven, 25 his parable of the 
mustard seed in the same connection, his par- 
able of the growing corn, 26 the kingdom of 
God is described as subject to the law of 
growth. It would seem certain that Jesus 
recognized the necessity of a long preparatory 
process. He was aware that his kingdom 
would be established through a natural course 
of human development. It would involve the 
evangelization of the various races. 27 All this 
would require a long process, but it would be 
a course of increase in the earth. Jesus saw 
with such vividness that what was far off 
seemed near to him. His disciples were greatly 
impressed by his words. For this reason they 
very naturally fell into the mistake of suppos- 
ing that his second advent was near. But he 
stated distinctly that when he came back the 



25 Matthew 13. 31-33. For discussion of this parable see 
pages 186-189. 

2« Mark 4. 26-29. 

"Matthew 24. 14; 26. 13; Mark 13. 10; Luke 21. 24. 



TIME OF HIS COMING 117 

ancient order would come to an end, and the 
glorified heavenly state of the saved would 
begin. That old order shows no evidence of 
being brought to a speedy termination. The 
second advent of our Lord is still an event of 
the indefinite future. 



CHAPTER VI 
WHAT IS CHRIST DOING NOW? 

When the Emperor Julian, surnamed the 
Apostate, made an expedition against the 
Persians, one of his followers asked a Chris- 
tian of Antioch, "What is the carpenter's son 
doing now?" The humble Christian said, "The 
Maker of the world, whom you call the carpen- 
ter's son, is employed in making a coffin for 
the emperor." A few days later the announce- 
ment was made in Antioch that Julian was 
dead, having been mortally wounded in a bat- 
tle with the Persians. 

The same question asked by that contemptu- 
ous disbeliever of the olden time is frequently 
asked in our day, and we repeat it for our- 
selves, not in the spirit of the enemy, but of 
the lover. We also give ourselves an answer 
totally different from that uttered by the 
Christian at Antioch. Our reply does not 
indicate vengeance from our Master, who, 
when James and John wished to punish the 
Samaritans for their inhospitality to him, 
"turned, and rebuked them." 1 Jesus so uni- 
formly declared that his mission among men 

1 Luke 9. 55. 

118 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 119 

was to save, not to destroy, their lives, that 
every rhetorical description of Christ's tri- 
umphs in terms of martial conquest is an 
offense. Religious teachers who embellish 
their oratory with similes of butchery to make 
more vivid the victories of our Lord, doubtless 
thinking thus to glorify his name, are far from 
the line of propriety, and should remember 
that Jesus himself said, a The Son of man came 
to seek and to save that which was lost " 2 

It is altogether likely that as soon as their 
Master had departed from them the disciples 
began to ask one another, "What is Christ 
doing now?" It is said in the record : "He led 
them out until they were over against Beth- 
any: and he lifted up his hands, and blessed 
them. And it came to pass, while he blessed 
them, he parted from them, and was carried 
up into heaven." 3 The narrative is filled in 
by the same author in another place where 
he says, "And while they were looking sted- 
fastly into heaven as he went, behold two men 
stood by them in white apparel ; who also said, 
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into 
heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from 
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye beheld him going into heaven." 4 We 
complete the story by turning back again to 

2 Luke 19. 10. 3 Luke 24. 50, 51. « Acts 1. 10, 11. 



120 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Luke's Gospel and reading: "And they wor- 
shiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with 
great joy : and were continually in the temple, 
blessing God." 5 Yet they were doubtless ask- 
ing one another/ from time to time, "What is 
Christ doing now?" 

If His Return Be Not Soon 

We know that the apostles were expecting 
their Master to return very soon, notwith- 
standing the cautions against such a mistake 
which he had given them, as has been shown 
in preceding pages of this work. He had 
warned them against too much curiosity about 
times and seasons. He had commanded them 
to tarry in the city until they were "clothed 
with power from on high." 6 

He had told them they were to be his "wit- 
nesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea 
and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of 
the earth." 7 Instead of seeing in these instruc- 
tions clear suggestions that he would not re- 
turn immediately, they kept watching for him 
every day. They thought of him as just with- 
drawn temporarily behind that cloud which 
had "received him out of their sight," 8 from 
which he would speedily issue to bring in his 



6 Luke 24. 52, 53. * Acts 1. 8. 

8 Luke 24. 49. 8 Acts 1. 9. 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 121 

eternal and universal sovereignty over the 
earth. To heaven he had gone, from heaven 
he would come, and that right early. In one 
respect they were more intelligent than many 
modern Christians — they believed heaven to be 
near at hand. But as the days moved on, and 
Christ did not return, they could not help ask- 
ing, "What is he doing now?" 

Pentecost came with its mysterious bap- 
tism of power, enabling them to rejoice in the 
fulfillment of a promise which they had not 
till then understood, and confirming them in 
the belief that all other promises of their 
Master would have equal verification. Perse- 
cutions poured upon them, and they suffered 
many cruel hardships, but they had received 
one answer to their question — "What is Christ 
doing now?" He had said the Spirit of truth 
would be sent by him and his Father, and his 
word had been kept. They were to receive 
another glorious proof that Christ was in 
action for their sakes somewhere. When 
Stephen was about to sink into sleep, pounded 
to death by the stones flung at him by his per- 
secutors, he suddenly cried, "Behold, I see the 
heavens opened, and the Son of man standing 
on the right hand of God." 9 Christ rising as 
if to extend help to his fallen saint is the in- 

• Acts 7. 56. 



122 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

spiring picture the Christians of the day car- 
ried in their hearts to assure them that the Son 
of man had not deserted them till the hour of 
his return. In heaven he still kept royal 
guardianship over them. 

After nineteen centuries we are frequently 
putting to ourselves the query which at the 
first troubled the apostles, "What is Christ 
doing now?" We have all the reasons for 
answering satisfactorily that question which 
the first Christians had, and we have them 
reenf orced by ages of history and vast volumes 
of Christian experience. 

Christ is Reigning in Heaven 

Like the disciples of old, we first think of 
Christ as in the celestial world, and turning 
to the Scriptures for a response to our inquiry, 
we find it plainly written that he is reigning 
in heaven. He made declaration to this effect 
when he quoted Psalm 110, and applied the 
passage to himself, 

"The Lord said unto my Lord, 
Sit thou on my right hand, 
Till I put thine enemies underneath thy feet." 10 

This statement so impressed Peter's mind that 
on the day of Pentecost he quoted it, and ex- 
plained the descent of the Holy Spirit on the 

10 Matthew 22. 44, 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 123 

ground that Christ from his throne was mani- 
festing his power. "Being therefore by the 
right hand of God exalted, and having received 
of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, 
he hath poured forth this, which ye see and 
hear." 11 In the Epistle to the Hebrews we 
have the same idea expressed concerning 
Christ: "Who being the effulgence of his 
glory, and the very image of his substance, 
and upholding all things by the word of his 
power, when he had made purification of sins, 
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on 
high." 12 Jesus "is on the right hand of God, 
having gone into heaven; angels and au- 
thorities and powers being made subject unto 
him." 13 He promises to share his regal power 
with his saints. "He that overcometh, I will 
give to him to sit down with me in my throne, 
as I also overcame, and sat down with my 
Father in his throne." 14 This inspiring con- 
ception of Christ reigning in heaven has been 
the inspiration of many of our noblest hymns. 
We express it devoutly in the prayers we offer. 
It has been the faith of the church through all 
the centuries. 

But we feel that pictures of thrones and 
scepters are not to be taken literally. We 



11 Acts 2. 33. 13 1 Peter 3. 22. 

12 Hebrews 1. 3. 14 Revelation 3. 21. 



126 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Of course we should not think of a temple 
in heaven with Christ officiating as the priest 
after the manner of the Jewish priests of the 
old dispensation, just as we cannot properly 
think of a literal throne on which our Lord 
is sitting wielding a scepter of authority. But, 
by his very presence and character, Christ is 
representing us in heaven. John has a differ- 
ent figure for the same great idea. He thinks 
of a pleader or an attorney, and says: "My 
little children, these things write I unto you 
that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we 
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the righteous: and he is the propitia- 
tion for our sins; and not for ours only, but 
also for the whole world." 17 We are not to 
think of a courtroom with a judge on the 
bench and Christ pleading before him in the 
style of the modern hall of justice. But Christ 
in his own person, by his very presence in 
heaven, and through his character as the aton- 
ing sacrifice for the sin of mankind, is in a 
sublime reality interceding for men. There is 
an oft-quoted story of classic literature con- 
cerning iEschylus, who was condemned to die 
by the Athenians. At the moment of his sen- 
tence by the judges his brother, Amyntas, came 
in. He had been brave in the service of his 

» 1 John 2. 1, 2. 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 127 

country. He simply lifted the stump of an 
arm, from which the hand had been severed 
in battle, and said not a word. But the judges 
were so impressed by this mute but power- 
ful appeal that they immediately pardoned 
iEschylus. So our Lord's presence in heaven 
is a guarantee of our salvation, because his 
sacrificial life and death eternally carry divine 
compassion to the children of men. An old 
hymn graphically expresses this profound 
truth : 

Five bleeding wounds he bears, 

Received on Calvary; 
They pour effectual prayers, 

They strongly plead for me: 
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry, 
"Nor let that ransomed sinner die." 

Christ is Preparing Homes in Heaven 

We also learn from the Scriptures that 
Christ is in heaven preparing homes for those 
who love him. We cannot tell all that is in- 
volved in this remarkable statement. But 
Jesus plainly said to his disciples, and, there- 
fore, to all who in future generations acknowl- 
edge his lordship : "In my Father's house are 
many mansions ; if it were not so, I would have 
told you ; for I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come 
again, and will receive you unto myself; that 



128 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

where I am, there ye may be also/' 18 He is 
our forerunner. He makes heaven real to us 
by the fact that he has gone thither. If he 
had not ascended to the Majesty on high, we 
might live in doubt concerning that unseen 
world. Even his resurrection from the dead 
was not alone sufficient to confirm men in their 
hope of a future life. But when he passed 
into the heavens he made vivid and actual 
that invisible world. What he is doing there 
by way of preparation for those who love him 
may be merely a matter of speculation, and, as 
the Scriptures are silent on this question, our 
conjectures are but idle and unprofitable. But 
that he is indeed fitting up a place for us which 
will be glorious on many accounts, but chiefly 
because of his own presence there, we cannot 
doubt. In our deeper spiritual moods we feel 
that this heaven of which he is the chief glory 
is very near to us. 

When the saintly Payson was nearing the 
end of his life he wrote to his sister : "I might 
date this letter from the land of Beulah, of 
which I have been some weeks a happy inhabi- 
tant. The celestial city is full in view. Its 
glories beam upon me ; its breezes fan me ; its 
odors are wafted to me ; its sounds strike upon 
my ears, and its spirit is breathed into my 

is John 14. 2, 3. 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 129 

heart. Nothing separates ine from it but the 
river of death, which now appears but an in- 
significant rill that may be crossed at a single 
step. The Sun of Righteousness has been 
gradually drawing nearer and nearer, appear- 
ing larger and brighter as he approached, and 
now he fills the whole hemisphere, pouring 
forth a flood of glory, in which I seem to float 
like an insect in the beams of the sun, exult- 
ing, yet almost trembling, while I gaze upon 
this excessive brightness, and wondering with 
unutterable wonder why God should design 
thus to shine upon a sinful worm." 

What Christ is doing in heaven is only a 
part of his activity. He is also present on the 
earth. He is busy in both the visible and the 
invisible world. Just as he was leaving his 
disciples, he said to them : "All authority 
hath been given unto me in heaven and on 
earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of 
all the nations, baptizing them into the name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Spirit: teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am 
with you always, even unto the end of the 
world." 19 

These are very wonderful words, on which 
Christian faith has hung with confidence for 

i» Matthew 28. 18-20. 



130 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

these many centuries. Now, if Christ is here 
on the earth in any real sense, we ought to 
know it. The evidences should be found in 
what he is doing. It is exceedingly comforting 
to find that proofs of his presence abound on 
every hand. 

Christ is in His Own World 

He is in current life, as he has been in the 
history of the past. Jean Paul Richter spoke 
for us all when he affirmed that "the life of 
Christ concerns him who, being the holiest 
among the mighty, and the mightiest among 
the holy, lifted with his pierced hands empires 
off their hinges, and turned the stream of 
centuries out of its channel, and still governs 
the ages." 

It is curious that men of the world who have 
made no great claim to piety should realize 
this miracle of Christ's presence even more 
clearly than many who are sincere worshipers 
of our Lord. Ernest Renan refers to Jesus as 
"this sublime person, who each day still pre- 
sides over the destinies of the world," and 
addresses to him this apostrophe: "A thou- 
sand times more alive, a thousand times more 
beloved, since thy death than during thy pas- 
sage here below, thou shalt become the corner- 
stone of humanity so entirely, that to tear thy 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 131 

name from this world would be to rend it to 
its foundations." 

Napoleon Bonaparte on Saint Helena ex- 
pressed a like conviction : "Can you conceive 
of Caesar as the eternal emperor of the Roman 
Senate, and from the depth of his mausoleum 
governing the empire, watching over the desti- 
nies of Rome? Such is the history of the 
invasion and conquest of the world by Chris- 
tianity; such is the power of the God of the 
Christian; and such is the perpetual miracle 
of this progress of the faith and of the gov- 
ernment of his church." 

Every Christian should be able to realize 
this by an act of personal faith in the Son of 
God, with whom it is his privilege to have con- 
stant spiritual fellowship. He should be con- 
scious of it in the sacraments and observances 
of the church, particularly in the holy com- 
munion, in which Christ has promised to mani- 
fest himself to all who partake of his body and 
blood in the mystical sense. They should see 
this truth in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, 
the Comforter whom Christ promised to send, 
and who, according to his word, should repre- 
sent him. "I will not leave you desolate: I 
come unto you." 20 We must not forget that 
the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. Chris- 

20 John 14. 18. 



132 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

tians ought also to be sensible of Christ's pres- 
ence in the world through his activity in the 
church, which is called his body. The provi- 
dential history of Christianity should convince 
every reader of the inspiring record that our 
Lord is exercising oversight of all his people. 

In Scottish story there is a tale of Mac- 
Gregor, a Highland chieftain who fell wound- 
ed by two balls. His clan wavered and would 
have been swept away by the enemy, but when 
the stricken leader noticed this he raised him- 
self upon his elbow with all his remaining 
strength, and while the blood was gushing 
from his wounds he cried: "I am not dead, 
my children. I am looking to see you do your 
duty." The drooping courage of his men was 
aroused, they once more resisted the onslaught 
of their foes and prevailed against them. The 
Christian ought to be able to hear a voice like 
this from his Master, and be sustained by the 
certainty that his Lord is beholding his every 
act. John pictures him in the Apocalypse as 
saying, "I was dead, and behold, I am alive for 
evermore, and I have the keys of death and of 
Hades." 21 

Christ is Seeking the Lost 

He is here seeking to save men by his tender 
approach to their souls. Two vivid scenes 

21 Revelation 1. 18. 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 133 

present themselves to our imagination. The 
first is laid in Eden amid the most entrancing 
environment. It is an earthly paradise, with 
a heavenly atmosphere. In this habitation 
dwell those created in the image of God who 
are to be the progenitors of the human race. 
About them reigns a golden era of peace, 
and in their hearts are innocency and happi- 
ness. But as we look a somber change occurs. 
Sin enters the fair abode, and with it the grim 
specter of death. Life is tainted, and beauty 
begins to decay. Darkness settles over the 
earth. But in the gloom a footstep is heard, 
and God, who is treading the leafy path, sends 
out his voice upon the awful silence, bringing 
terror to hearts filled with a sense of guilt, 
though his accents are tender and gracious as 
he says, "Where art thou, O man, where art 
thou?" 22 Drawn from their covert whither 
they have retired to hide themselves from the 
voice of the Lord, they are hurried out of para- 
dise into a world of sorrow and struggle. 

Over against this scene place another. It is 
laid, not in a luxurious paradise, but in a 
world of disorder and confusion. Rank error 
grows everywhere. Fields of blood stretch 
here and there. The earth is a wilderness and 
darkness covers its face. But as we look a 



22 See Genesis 3. 9. 



134 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

bright form emerges from the gloom. Wher- 
ever he goes a flood of glory follows. It is the 
incarnate Son of God treading the stony paths 
of earth. Sin-stricken men lift up their weary 
hearts to hear his tender voice as it steals out 
over the dark waste and says, "The Son of man 
came to seek and to save that which was 
lost." 23 It is Christ walking through the cen- 
turies, seeking the fallen, crying in anguish of 
spirit to all wanderers, "Where art thou, O 
man, where art thou?" 

This is the office that Jesus is steadily per- 
forming upon the earth, and it is incredible 
that any who believe in his power to save and 
in his everlasting compassion for the sinner 
should doubt that he is among men, "not to 
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to 
give his life a ransom for many." 24 

Christ Is Saving Life 

He is here to transform character. We 
know how he bound himself to this task when 
he was among us in the flesh. This is his work 
now as then, and the marvels which he is per- 
forming surpass any other wonders which 
have astonished the world. He is taking the 
broken and dirt-covered fragments of human- 
ity which he can pick up anywhere, and he is 

23 Luke 19. 10. 24 Matthew 20. 28. 



WHAT IS CHRIST DOING? 135 

rearing a temple, whose spires and pinnacles 
shall pierce the sky, whose magnificence shall 
command the admiration of the universe, and 
whose aisles and vaulted ceilings shall resound 
with the sublimest music ever produced on 
earth or in heaven. He enters the haunt of 
vice and calls into eternal life the desperate 
drunkard. He invades the purlieus of the 
city, and wins to purity the shameless harlot. 
These are but types of his manifold power to 
transfigure human life. The records of mod- 
ern work for the perishing abound in exhibi- 
tions of his saving grace. Thus his presence 
will be forever proved until the world shall be 
brought to his feet, not by the compulsion of 
force, but by the irresistible might of love. 

He reigns in heaven and on the earth. 

He intercedes in heaven and with men on the 
earth. 

He prepares homes for men in heaven 
above. 

He makes heaven for them on the earth 
beneath. 

His power astonishes. His wisdom amazes. 
His loves conquers. To him we yield our 
lives. 25 



25 " The church has been led to regard herself as the widow and 
not the bride of Christ. ... What is needed in order to awaken 
a worthier activity in the church is a faith that discerns him as 
actually here in his Kingdom." W. N. Clarke. 



CHAPTER VII 

WHAT SHALL WE DO TILL CHRIST'S 

RETURN? 

A few years ago a strange thing happened 
to a lake fifty miles long and ten miles wide 
in the heart of Mexico. One morning the peo- 
ple living in a little settlement on the shore 
were alarmed to see an immense whirlpool far 
out upon the surface of the water. It was 
accompanied by a dull rumbling noise. Many 
sailing boats were upon the lake at the time, 
and a large number of them were sucked down 
by the maelstrom. The struggles of the per- 
sons overtaken by this calamity were terrible 
to behold, but nothing could be done in their 
behalf. In twenty minutes all was over. The 
explanation of this calamity was indicated by 
the fact that after the disturbance had passed 
the surface of the lake had subsided several 
feet, and streams of petroleum were noticed 
running along the edge of the shore, thus lead- 
ing to the opinion that the bottom of the lake 
had suddenly sunk, causing the destructive 
whirlpool. 

It is customary to make such events illus- 
trate the suddenness and unexpectedness with 

136 



UNTIL HE COME 137 

which death may come to anyone. Nothing 
is plainer to the mind of the observer than the 
certainty that life on earth will some day cease 
for each inhabitant, and the uncertainty of the 
time when this end will be reached. These 
facts are analogous to the certainty that the 
Son of man will return and the uncertainty of 
the time at which he will come back. The 
illustrations which Jesus used to impress these 
facts are most striking. Some persons insist 
on applying those parables to the event of 
death. They can be so used, but to make this 
their exclusive meaning is to tear them vio- 
lently from their connection. 

In spite of the fact that Christ said the 
day and the hour of his return were not known 
even to himself/ and that he warned his dis- 
ciples to be ready, "for in an hour that ye 
think not the Son of man cometh," 2 some of 
his words are used to prove that it is possible 
to fix approximately the time of his return. 
This is done under the influence of certain 
statements of our Lord concerning tokens 
which might be relied upon to signify the 
approach of his second advent. Yet he quali- 
fied these declarations to such an extent that 
he evidently wished them to be used with great 
care, and even warned his apostles against the 

1 Matthew 24. 36. 2 Matthew 24. 44. 



138 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

danger of being mistaken. 3 Though he empha- 
sized the necessity of being constantly pre- 
pared for his return, he repeatedly said that 
the time of his coming again was indefinite. 
Yet he exhorts them to watch, "And what I say 
unto you I say unto all, Watch." 4 

Why does Jesus make this exhortation so 
strong? First, that he may keep alive this 
expectation of his return entirely apart from 
the time when it is to occur. He wishes his 
disciples never to have absent from their 
thought the fact that he is coming back. This 
event must be in the forefront of all their activ- 
ities. They must remember that judgment is 
to be pronounced ; that this life has to do with 
the next ; that accounts will inevitably be made 
up. But does not the uncertainty of the time 
of Christ's return empty his words of the force 
which otherwise they would possess? This 
cannot be the case if we remember all his 
recorded reasons for urging watchfulness. It 
is an important thing to keep our Lord's com- 
ing before our minds, and the very uncertainty 
of the time of his coming serves to emphasize 
the certainty of the event. The supreme em- 
phasis is on the coming to judgment, and not 
on the time of the event. "Watch," for it is 
a crisis which all must some time meet. 



« Matthew 24. 4, 23. « Mark 13. 37. 



UNTIL HE COME 139 

The Command to Watch 

There is no illusion about this. Jesus is not 
striving to excite men to watchfulness under 
false pretenses. He is the most candid teacher 
the world has known. He says in his apoca- 
lyptic discourse, "When ye see all these things, 
know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors.'' 5 
The apostle James has repeated this caution. 
He says, "The judge standeth before the 
doors." 6 This is a fact of perpetual experi- 
ence. All through the centuries Christ has 
been standing at the door. In the fullness of 
time he will turn the knob, lift the latch, and 
come in to final judgment. No one knows 
when this will occur, but the signs before the 
siege of Jerusalem are types of the signs before 
his second advent. Yet Jesus repeatedly said, 
"Let no man deceive you." In other words, he 
would have them be cautious about the signs, 
and remember the things that are to come to 
pass before his return. How r long after these 
signs have appeared he will come no one 
knows. It is enough to say that these things 
must occur first. After that, not immediately, 
will come the end. But, meanwhile, the church 
must watch and pray, because the Judge 
standeth at the door. 

But millions have died in the constant 



« Matthew 24. 33; see also Mark 13. 29. 6 James 5. 9. 



140 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

expectation of his coming, and he has not 
returned. Certainly, and millions more will 
die before he comes in the historic sense in 
which we are now using that phrase. But the 
Judge is always standing at the door. When 
death thrusts us out of that door he is there 
to meet us. If we have a conscious spiritual 
fellowship with him, that meeting will be one 
of exceeding great joy. Thenceforth, under 
better conditions, the fellowship we have been 
enjoying will be continued forever. If, as we 
pass out of the door, we are conscious of a spir- 
itual separation from him, that meeting will 
be an unhappy one, for it will mean a contin- 
uance of that separation. The final judgment 
will yet awake the world. When He who is 
standing at the door does come to the world, 
those who were in conscious fellowship with 
him will be raised to glorious and unbroken 
life with him and with the holy of all the ages. 
But those who were evil and knew themselves 
to be separated from him will be raised to con- 
demnation and continued separation from him. 
For he said, "All that are in the tombs shall 
hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that 
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; 
and they that have done evil, unto the resur- 
rection of judgment," 7 Now the state of each 

7 John 5. 28, 29. 



UNTIL HE COME 141 

of these classes was fixed at death. The good 
never become bad from the time they close 
their eyes in death until the hour of their res- 
urrection, and the bad never become good dur- 
ing that interval. If ten thousand years are 
yet to be rolled away before Christ returns to 
final judgment, the condition of men at the 
time of their death will not be altered in the 
slightest degree when the Lord comes to sep- 
arate the faithful from the faithless. They 
will all receive judgment of life or death 
according to their spiritual condition at the 
moment of their decease. In this sense it is 
appropriate to say that the Son of man comes 
to everyone when his earthly probation is 
ended, but this does not exclude the final 
judgment. Christ is coming in due time to 
bring to a termination the age during which 
his gospel has been preached. 

Time Only One Element in Watching 

The command to watch has a variety of 
meanings. There can be no doubt that the 
time idea is pushed to the front with such a 
purpose as we have sought to outline. This 
can be the only meaning of the parable of the 
householder and the thief. "Watch therefore : 
for ye know not on what day your Lord 
cometh. But know this, that if the master 



142 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

of the house had known in what watch the 
thief was coming, he would have watched, and 
would not have suffered his house to be broken 
through. Therefore be ye also ready; for in 
an hour that ye think not the Son of man 
cometh." 8 

It is possible to make too much of the point 
made in this parable, as though it were the 
only element in Christ's exhortation to watch- 
fulness. We cannot escape the feeling that 
this is sometimes done by evangelists who make 
dramatic use of this exhortation when appeal- 
ing to impenitent sinners. The uncertainty 
of life is a fact with which people are so fully 
acquainted that it has lost its impressiveness. 
The evangelist finds that to bear down upon 
the certainty of Christ's return and the uncer- 
tainty of the moment when he may come is to 
produce an alarm in the spirits of some which 
the mere uncertainty of life cannot awaken. 
The second advent of Christ is a concrete thing 
which excites the imagination of the hearer; 
but if the latter is a reflecting person, he will 
know that there is something more striking 
and impressive than this. It is the fact that 
the omniscient Christ is always present and 
forever observing his life. The Scriptures go 
much farther than do the evangelists. They 

8 Matthew 24. 42-44. 



UNTIL HE COME 143 

do not depend on the second coming of Christ 
as the sharpest incentive to penitence. They 
make it plain that he who delays to make his 
peace with God because he thinks Christ might 
not come in the next hour or the next year, is 
pursuing a foolish and suicidal policy. Gam- 
bling on the chances of Christ's return is 
exceedingly dangerous, since in a spiritual 
sense Christ is already here. He sees the 
guilty soul of the sinner. He is his present 
judge. His breath is on the sinner's cheek. 
His hand is on his pulse. The sinner has not 
the guarantee of an hour. If he ceases to 
breathe at any minute, there is absolutely an 
end of his opportunity for salvation. If Christ 
comes to-morrow, or a thousand years from 
now, the result will be the same. The situa- 
tion cannot be changed. There is no safe 
moment but now. 

Christ is Also Watching 

It is this spiritual presence of Christ that 
needs greater emphasis in our day, and it is 
important that the ground of the righteous life 
should be more solid than the mere dread lest 
Christ may come back to find the sinner in a 
hopeless state. It has been said by an evan- 
gelist who makes much of the speedy return 
of Christ as a motive for repentance and faith, 



144 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

"Knowing that the bank examiner may drop 
in at any moment keeps many a cashier from 
being dishonest." That is not true. Honesty 
does not consist in merely refraining from dis- 
honest acts, but in having a spirit which would 
scorn dishonesty. If the cashier is only out- 
wardly honest, because he fears the sudden 
appearance of the bank examiner, he may 
really be a thief at heart. 

The fact of Christ's spiritual presence must 
also be emphasized in the thought of the true 
believer. In many of the parables used by our 
Lord to illustrate the suddenness and unex- 
pectedness of his return he speaks of the pos- 
sibility of long delay, as has been shown in 
preceding pages. Christians must remember 
that, however tardy his return may seem to 
be, he is constantly in his own world doing 
his own work among the children of men. This 
fact we have emphasized in a former chapter. 
What is of great importance is that those who 
believe and love our Lord should not become 
weary because he does not visibly manifest 
himself to them. The impatience of the Chris- 
tian is in some respects as evil as the reckless- 
ness of the sinner. It is well for us to remem- 
ber other words of Christ, as well as those 
which specifically refer to his second coming. 
He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto 



UNTIL HE COME 145 

the end of the world." 9 He comforted his dis- 
ciples with the promise : "Where two or three 
are gathered together in my name, there am I 
in the midst of them." 10 Yet some Christians 
speak as though they thought of Christ as afar 
off, almost out of reach : they must wait for 
him to return in order to obtain help of 
him in their struggle to overcome the world. 
Bishop Taylor said, "I know Jesus Christ 
better than I know anyone else in the world." 
He felt that he could have perpetual comrade- 
ship with him. It is a species of infidelity to 
doubt this possibility. It shows a deplorable 
lack of faith. It is virtuallv to denv that the 
church has had Christ's personal direction 
through the centuries. It is to affirm that in 
all the time yet to come before his visible 
return the church will be without his guid- 
ance. It is to assert that Christ cannot be 
victorious by the exercise of his spiritual pres- 
ence and power. It is to say that he is help- 
less and hopeless in the contest for this world 
until he comes back to the earth in a body 
which can be seen and handled. It is putting 
an abridgment to the omnipotence of Christ 
such as one would think no true believer in 
his deity would for a moment entertain. Let 
it not be forgotten how sloAvly and method- 
s' Matthew 28. 20. 10 Matthew 18. 20. 



146 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ically God works in the processes of the physi- 
cal world, and this impatience about the return 
of Christ will seem childish. "Be patient 
therefore, brethren, until the coming of the 
Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for 
the precious fruit of the earth, being patient 
over it, until it receive the early and latter 
rain. Be ye also patient; establish your 
hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at 
hand." 11 

Watchfulness and Personal Religion 

Making all allowance for the urgency of 
perpetual watchfulness, lest the Lord come 
upon us when we are unaware, it must be 
apparent from the considerations just set forth 
that many persons have placed the emphasis 
of our Lord's admonitions on the wrong thing. 
Time has occupied the whole thought of many, 
whereas conduct is the real matter upon which 
our Lord laid the most stress. The question 
is not, When will our Lord return? but How 
shall I behave until he does return? Conduct, 
and not time, is the pivot upon which all 
Christ's exhortations turned. 

By comparison of our Lord's words with the 
exhortations of his apostles we learn that 
watchfulness means not merely fixing one's 

11 James 5. 7, 8. 



UNTIL HE COME 147 

eye upon the possibility of Christ's return at 
any time, but also, and more specifically, 
attending to one's personal, spiritual condi- 
tion. In the parable of the virgins, 12 we have 
an illustration of the necessity of keeping the 
heart with all diligence and seeing that by 
prayer and watchfulness the inward grace of 
a holy life is maintained. We are not to let 
the oil of grace become exhausted. We are not 
to permit our spiritual emotions to die. We 
must obey the command of Christ, "Let your 
loins be girded about, and your lamps burning ; 
and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for 
their lord, when he shall return from the mar- 
riage feast; that, when he cometh and knock- 
eth, they may straightway open unto him. 
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord 
when he cometh shall find watching: verily I 
say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and 
make them sit down to meat, and shall come 
and serve them. And if he shall come in the 
second watch, and if in the third, and find 
them so, blessed are those servants" 13 

This implies perfect faith in Christ, who 
must be trusted and loved precisely as though 
he were in bodily presence among us. "Whom 
not having seen ye love ; on whom, though now 
ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly 

a Matthew 25. 1-13. 13 Luke 12. 35-38. 



148 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

with joy unspeakable and full of glory : receiv- 
ing the end of your faith even the salvation of 
your souls." 14 

This cultivation of the inner life must not 
be left to private devotion alone. We are 
urged to "watch and pray." 15 But this must 
include public worship. "Not forsaking our 
own assembling together, as the custom of 
some is, but exhorting one another; and so 
much the more, as ye see the day drawing 
nigh." 16 

All this will induce in the true Christian 
sobriety of conduct, and seriousness of atten- 
tion to the details of a Christian character. 
Our Lord gave very clear intimation of this. 
"But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your 
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and 
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that 
day come on you suddenly as a snare; for so 
shall it come upon all them that dwell on the 
face of all the earth. But watch ye at every 
season, making supplication, that ye may pre- 
vail to escape all these things that shall come 
to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 17 
One of the men who heard Christ's apocalyptic 
discourse carried out this exhortation as fol- 
lows : "Wherefore girding up the loins of your 

14 1 Peter 1. 8, 9. 18 Hebrews 10. 25. 

» Mark 13. 33. 17 Luke 21. 34-36. 



UNTIL HE COME 149 

mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on 
the grace that is to be brought unto you at 
the revelation of Jesus Christ." 18 "But inso- 
much as ye are partakers of Christ's suffer- 
ings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory 
also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy." 19 

We can see from these considerations a deep 
significance in the exhortations of the Apoca- 
lypse. "Nevertheless that which ye have, hold 
fast till I come." 20 "Be thou watchful, and 
establish the things that remain, which were 
ready to die: for I have found no works of 
thine perfected before my God. Remember 
therefore how thou hast received and didst 
hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore 
thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, 
and thou shalt not know what hour I will 
come upon thee." 21 "I come quickly, hold fast 
that which thou hast, that no one take thy 
crown." 22 "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed 
is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, 
lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." 23 
In these and many other similar injunctions 
by Christ and his apostles we perceive that 
watchfulness, in view of our Lord's second 
coming, bears upon the personal spiritual life 



18 1 Peter 1. 13. 21 Revelation 3. 2, 3. 

« 1 Peter 4. 13. 22 Revelation 3. 11. 

2° Revelation 2. 25, M Revelation 16. 15. 



150 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

of the believer who is looking for his Saviour's 
return. He is not only to watch for his Lord, 
but to watch himself, lest he be found wanting 
in the grace of a godly life even while he is 
talking of his Master's coming, and feeding 
his imagination on the bright hope of his 
appearing. 

Watch Your Business 

But watchfulness also means fidelity to 
trust, first among those who are charged with 
high responsibilities, such as the apostles. To 
this effect speaks one of the parables given by 
our Lord in his apocalyptic discourse. "It is as 
when a man, sojourning in another country, 
having left his house, and given authority to 
his servants, to each one his work, commanded 
also the porter to watch. Watch therefore : for 
ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, 
whether at even, or at midnight, or at cock- 
crowing, or in the morning; lest coming sud- 
denly he find you sleeping. And what I say 
unto you I say unto all, Watch." 24 With 
the same intention is the parable of the 
faithful and faithless headservant. "Who 
then is the faithful and wise servant, whom 
his lord hath set over his household, to give 
them their food in due season? Blessed is 



*< Mark 13. 34-37, 



UNTIL HE COME 151 

that servant, whom his lord when he cometh 
shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, 
that he will set him over all that he hath." 25 
The apostle Peter has taken up this idea in 
the following passage : "The elders therefore 
among you I exhort, who am a fellow elder, 
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who 
am also a partaker of the glory that shall be 
revealed: Tend the flock of God which is 
among you, exercising the oversight, not of 
constraint, but willingly, according to the will 
of God ; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready 
mind; neither as lording it over the charge 
allotted to you, but making yourselves ensam- 
ples to the flock. And when the chief Shep- 
herd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the 
crown of glory that fadeth not away." 26 

The penalty which will fall upon the un- 
faithful servant is appalling. "But if that 
evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord 
tarrieth; and shall begin to beat his fellow 
servants, and shall eat and drink with the 
drunken; the lord of that servant shall come 
in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour 
when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asun- 
der, and appoint his portion with the hypo- 
crites: there shall be the weeping and the 

26 Matthew 24. 45-47. 
26 1 Peter 5. 1-4. 



152 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

gnashing of teeth." 27 It is a tragic fact of 
history that unfaithful shepherds of the flock 
of Christ have been guilty of the very neglect 
which is pictured in this parable. This was 
the case in those dark centuries when the 
Roman priesthood forsook their spiritual 
obligations and allowed the people to starve 
for the bread of life. A similar neglect of 
sacred duty was instanced in the conditions 
which made necessary the great evangelical 
revival in England during the eighteenth 
century. 

The longer "my lord tarrieth" the greater 
is the temptation to fall into this sin. Hence 
the necessity of keeping in mind that, while 
Christ did not say he was coming back very 
soon, he did reiterate beyond the possibility of 
anyone misunderstanding him that he is com- 
ing back some time, and he did make it plain 
that until he does come back in the historic 
sense he will continue his spiritual presence 
in the world and be very observant of the con- 
duct of his servants. 

Work While You Watch 

The same fidelity to trust is enforced upon 
all Christ's disciples as an imperative obliga- 
tion. In the parable of the talents 28 we have 

27 Matthew 24. 48-51. 28 Matthew 25. 14-30. 



UNTIL HE COME 153 

this lesson taught in unmistakable terms. It 
is said that after a long time the master re- 
turned to see what his stewards had done with 
their opportunities and to confer everlasting 
benefits upon those who had been faithful, and 
to administer punishment to those who had 
been neglectful. It is sometimes possible for 
people to fasten their minds on the fact of 
Christ's second coming in such a way as to 
exclude from their thought the necessity of 
faithfulness in the performance of their duties 
while they are upon the earth. This is an evil 
which befell the Thessalonians. Thev had 
become so convinced that Christ would come 
back quickly that they fell into easy and un- 
concerned idleness, and this resulted in their 
dropping into evil ways, so that Paul was com- 
pelled to write them very sharply, saying, "For 
even when we were with you, this we com- 
manded you. If any will not work, neither let 
him eat. For we hear of some that walk among 
you disorderly, that work not at all, but are 
busybodies. Now them that are such we com- 
mand and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
that with quietness they work, and eat their 
own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in 
well-doing." 29 Those lax and irritating per- 
sons have their successors in our day. Many 

«• 2 Thessalonians 3. 10-13. 



154 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

good persons who are looking for the early 
return of our Lord keep this injunction, but 
there are others who neglect it. The tempta- 
tion to do this is very subtle. Against it we 
should seek to guard ourselves with great care. 
The meaning of Christ's teaching is that while 
we wait we must work. 

The parable of the talents is centered on the 
truth that every man has some ability, and 
that each will be judged according to the use 
which he has made of this stock in trade. 
There is such a thing as taking one's respon- 
sibility too lightly. This was the case with 
the unwise virgins in Christ's great parable. 
They are not to be thought of as evil people 
who were shut out because their characters 
were bad, but as people who did not realize 
the importance of everlastingly keeping them- 
selves in readiness. They took their functions 
at too low a valuation. There is danger that 
by fixing his thought upon the glorious fact 
of Christ's return, and by assuming that it 
may come during his lifetime, the Christian 
may think there is no urgent need to work 
against the evils which are about him in the 
world, and thus fail to keep the real spirit of 
Christ's exhortation to be watchful. We have 
those among us who say that the church has 
nothing to do with reforms in society. Its 



UNTIL HE COME 155 

only business is to preach the gospel, exhibit 
holy and unspotted lives, and thus bear wit- 
ness to the grace of God as revealed through 
Jesus Christ. They announce that to work for 
the destruction of the liquor traffic, the sup- 
pression of the social evil, the removal of 
political corruption, the cleansing of the slums, 
the improvement of the industrial situation, 
or any other philanthropic undertaking, is but 
a waste of time and energy, and an interfer- 
ence with the supreme duty of the church. 
They say the iniquities which vex society can 
never be cured till Christ returns to do this in 
person, and ask why Christians should dabble 
unprofltably with these matters in view of the 
fact that Christ will soon come back and sum- 
marily dispose of everything hostile to his 
kingdom. The parable of the talents should 
be a sufficient corrective for such folly, if there 
were no other. 

Watch With Your Lord 

As our Lord knelt in the garden of Geth- 
semane he was stricken with the sense of lone- 
liness because his disciples could not enter into 
the shadow of his trial. On rising from his 
knees to rejoin them he discovered they were 
asleep, and gently rebuked them in words 
addressed to Peter : "Could ye not watch with 



156 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

me one hour?" 30 One can imagine him now 
observing the sluggish way in which many 
Christians await his return, and asking with 
pathetic solicitude the same question. He has 
a mighty task on his hands. It is such a bur- 
den as only the Son of God can bear. He calls 
for the sympathetic fellowship of his church. 
He says to all ease-taking waiters, "Could ye 
not watch with me one hour?" Watchfulness 
does not only mean waiting for him to come 
back, but also engaging in the work on which 
his heart is set. 

On the other hand, it is possible to think of 
our service as too hard. The man who had but 
one talent gave up his task of making it de- 
velop into something worth while and hid it 
away in the earth. So people who are looking 
for the return of our Lord may consider their 
abilities as so small that nothing can be added 
to the influence of the gospel by their activity. 
These are to remember that Christ wants them 
also to watch with him during this little hour, 
and to carry forward to the utmost of their 
ability the task which he has committed to 
them. Until Christ comes back we are to 
watch if there is any loyalty in us. That is 
so clearly put, in such a variety of words, that 
we cannot doubt it. But we are to watch not 

»• Matthew 26. 40. 



UNTIL HE COME 157 

as men who are looking for the coming of the 
morning, but as persons upon whom the day 
has already dawned, in which they are to put 
off the slumber of the night and put on the 
energy of the day. Our Lord said : "We must 
work the works of him that sent me, while it 
is day: the night cometh, when no man can 
w r ork." 31 The day is here. It is not to be 

■r 

filled with dawdling and dreaming, but with 
daring and doing. 



» l John 9. 4. 



156 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

me one hour?" 30 One can imagine him now 
observing the sluggish way in which many 
Christians await his return, and asking with 
pathetic solicitude the same question. He has 
a mighty task on his hands. It is such a bur- 
den as only the Son of God can bear. He calls 
for the sympathetic fellowship of his church. 
He says to all ease-taking waiters, "Could ye 
not watch with me one hour?" Watchfulness 
does not only mean waiting for him to come 
back, but also engaging in the work on which 
his heart is set. 

On the other hand, it is possible to think of 
our service as too hard. The man who had but 
one talent gave up his task of making it de- 
velop into something worth while and hid it 
away in the earth. So people who are looking 
for the return of our Lord may consider their 
abilities as so small that nothing can be added 
to the influence of the gospel by their activity. 
These are to remember that Christ wants them 
also to watch with him during this little hour, 
and to carry forward to the utmost of their 
ability the task which he has committed to 
them. Until Christ comes back we are to 
watch if there is any loyalty in us. That is 
so clearly put, in such a variety of words, that 
we cannot doubt it. But we are to watch not 



80 Matthew 26. 40. 



UNTIL HE COME 157 

as men who are looking for the coming of the 
morning, but as persons upon whom the day 
has already dawned, in which they are to put 
off the slumber of the night and put on the 
energy of the day. Our Lord said : "We must 
work the works of him that sent me, while it 
is day: the night cometh, when no man can 
work." 31 The day is here. It is not to be 
filled with dawdling and dreaming, but with 
daring and doing. 



81 John 9. 4. 



CHAPTER VIII 
IS THE WORLD GROWING BETTER? 

We are told that it makes no difference what 
we may think is the correct answer to this 
question ; that the whole matter is determined 
by what the Bible says about it. We admit 
that we ought to search the Scriptures for 
light on this subject; but we also offer a gentle 
protest against the suggestion that human 
reason, which is a gift of God, cannot safely 
be used in the effort to ascertain from observa- 
tion and experience the facts of life which bear 
on the question. 

It would seem perfectly clear that we do not 
need to go to the Bible, which was finished 
many centuries ago, to learn what is the con- 
dition of society to-day, and that if we should 
do this, nothing would be added to our knowl- 
edge. We may find in the Scriptures much, on 
the other hand, to enlighten us on the social, 
political, moral, and spiritual conditions which 
prevailed in ancient times. So shall we like- 
wise find in many other books of history val- 
uable aids to an understanding of the world's 
state in earlier epochs. By comparing the con- 

158 



THE WORLD 159 

ditions of our times with those existing one 
century or ten centuries ago, we should be able 
to declare whether the character of society at 
present is better or worse than at some pre- 
vious period, just as we can tell by consulting 
our memories or the weather records whether 
the physical conditions surrounding us to-day 
are more comfortable or less agreeable than 
those of ten days ago. In the same way it is 
within our ability to determine whether the 
moral conditions in the United States or 
Europe, Asia and Africa are improving or 
declining. 

Facts Must Fit the Bible 

The only necessity is that, first, we shall be 
acquainted with enough of the world to be able 
to base our conclusions on adequate informa- 
tion, and, second, that we shall have sufficient 
judgment or common sense to form a correct 
opinion from the facts brought to our atten- 
tion. It is just here that those who say we 
must consult the Bible to find out the truth 
respecting the moral and spiritual conditions 
of the world point the finger of condemnation 
at us, and say that we cannot have intelligence 
enough to know the world, and even if we had 
the widest possible acquaintance with the pop- 
ulations of the earth, we should still be incom- 



160 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

petent to determine whether they were better 
or worse than their ancestors. Only God is 
wise enough to understand the exact situation, 
and he has given to men through inspired writ- 
ings the final test by which they may know 
whether the world is advancing or retrograd- 
ing. 

This position would be troublesome if it 
were not true that the actual facts in God's 
world must correspond with the actual state- 
ments in God's word with regard to the world. 
Surely, mere human conjectures or denials will 
not amount to anything. Facts are facts, and 
they must be harmonized with themselves, and 
not with the notions of men respecting them. 
When we have the facts we should adhere to 
them, no matter how far they take us. We 
feel certain that Jesus and his apostles did 
not say anything contrary to the facts in their 
day, and that they did not proclaim anything 
with regard to the future which will contradict 
the facts as they successively occur in the his- 
tory of mankind. It is affirmed by some that 
Christ and his apostles said the world was 
very evil, and that it would get worse instead 
of better. No one denies that Christ and his 
apostles said that the world in their day was 
very evil. It did not require any inspiration 
to make that declaration. Everybody could 



THE WORLD 161 

see that it was a fact. It may be said with 
equal accuracy that the world of our day is 
very evil, and it requires no divine revelation 
to make that fact clear to the intelligence of 
everyone. But Christ and his apostles did not 
say that the world would get worse and worse 
until it became so thoroughly steeped in sin 
that there would be nothing left but to wreck 
it and begin over again. The truth is they 
said something quite different, and the facts 
of history and current life are in entire agree- 
ment with them. These assertions we shall 
now prove. 

The Last of the Apostles First 

Let us inquire what the New Testament says 
with regard to the future of this world, and 
then put alongside of these declarations the 
facts of human development as they are 
plainly exposed to our view. The apostles 
may properly be considered first, because his- 
torically speaking they are nearer to us in 
point of time than is Jesus. They did not 
begin to write until Christ had gone from the 
earth about thirty years, and they continued 
to write until at least fifty years had passed; 
so that in these New Testament writers we 
have testimony which covers a half century 
beyond the time when Jesus made his procla- 



162 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

notations. We are thus provided with the means 
of gauging the drift of Christian feeling and 
how far it agreed with what our Lord had 
previously said. 

The latest of these writers was the apostle 
John, who said, "Little children, it is the last 
hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, 
even now have there arisen many antichrists; 
whereby we know that it is the last hour." 1 
The phrases "the last hour/' "the last days," 
"the last time," as used by John and other 
New Testament writers, refer to the end of the 
age, which they evidently believed to be very 
near, and at which they expected the return of 
Christ. John apparently thought this event 
would occur during his lifetime. "The last 
hour" is the close of the gospel dispensation, 
which began with the establishment of the 
Christian Church, and will end with Christ's 
final appearance to judge the world. "The 
last days" are bounded by a constantly widen- 
ing horizon, but they lie within the range of 
the writer's vision. When John used the 
phrase he meant the short period which he 
believed still remained before the manifest- 
ing of Christ at the last day. We feel ourselves 
to be in the last times, as compared with the 
early ages which have fled away, but when we 

1 1 John 2. 18. 



THE WORLD 163 

think of the progress which Christ's kingdom 
has yet to make we sometimes feel that we are 
in the first times. It is to be observed that 
John saw many antichrists in his day, and 
that he felt their presence indicated that the 
age was swiftly coming to an end. Those who 
see in our day a similar number of antichrists 
should exercise restraint in proclaiming on 
this ground the speedy termination of this dis- 
pensation, remembering how many centuries 
have fled away since John wrote. 

The World as John Saw It 

The conditions which the apostles saw 
around them, together with their expectation 
that Christ would very soon return, colored 
their language whenever they spoke of the age 
in which they w r ere living, and must always be 
taken into account in attempting to explain 
what they meant when they described the trend 
of the future, as it appeared to them. John 
wrote a sentence which is the main reliance 
of those who insist that the world is growing 
worse : "We know that we are of God, and the 
whole world lieth in the evil one." 2 This is 
interpreted to mean that, since human society 
as a whole is within the embrace of the devil, it 



' 1 John 5. 19. 



164 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

is quite irrational to suppose that it can ever 
be improved. 

Much unprofitable argument of this sort 
would be prevented by remembering that the 
word "world" has four different meanings in 
the New Testament, and that wherever it is 
used the context will tell the earnest student 
of the Bible which is intended. ( 1 ) The world 
means the universe, the order of nature, the 
created world. It is in this sense used by 
Christ in his great high-priestly prayer when 
he says, "Father, I desire that they also whom 
thou hast given me be with me where I am, 
that they may behold my glory, which thou 
hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the 
foundation of the world" 3 (2) The earth, the 
space inhabited by men. This is the sense in 
which Jesus used it when he said, "And I am 
no more in the world, and these are in the 
world, and I come to thee." 4 (3) The world 
of humanity, mankind universally. It is in 
this sense the word is used when John says, 
"And he is the propitiation for our sins; and 
not for ours only, but also for the whole 
world." 5 (4) The world of mankind as alien- 
ated from God, the unspiritual world which 



3 John 17. 24; see also Matthew 25. 34. 
*John 17. 11. 
6 1 John 2. 2. 



THE WORLD 165 

gets its inspiration from the devil and not from 
God. It is this world to which John refers 
when he says: "Love not the world, neither 
the things that are in the world. If any man 
love the world, the love of the Father is not 
in him. For all that is in the world, the lust 
of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the 
vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is 
of the world/' 6 This is the world that "lieth 
in the evil one." This is the world which is 
to be overcome, since it is always seeking to 
invade the believer's soul. "For whatsoever 
is begotten of God overcometh the world : and 
this is the victory that hath overcome the 
world, even our faith. And who is he that 
overcometh the world, but he that believeth 
that Jesus is the Son of God?" 7 But the world 
of humanity is not to be overcome in any sense 
except that it is to be won to Christ. It is not 
to be hated and shunned, "For God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, 
but have eternal life." 8 Apart from these dis- 
tinctions in the scriptural use of the word 
"world," we should know that the whole world 
that lieth in the evil one could not actually 



8 1 John 2. 15, 16. 
7 1 John 5. 4, 5. 
8 John 3. 16. 



166 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

mean the entire world of humanity. Other- 
wise it would include even those saints who 
hold that the world is growing worse. 

But even that world of mankind alienated 
from God is the object of attack by the ser- 
vants of Christ, with a view to winning to 
truth and righteousness as many of its inhabi- 
tants as possible. Either it is hoped that some 
success will attend this endeavor, or the church 
is shut up to a doctrine of predestination akin 
to a bald fatalism, such as has been almost 
universally repudiated by Christians on 
grounds of both reason and revelation. To 
assume that the world of willful sinners is 
imprisoned in such a way that it cannot be 
affected for good by the preaching of the gos- 
pel is practically to destroy the great incentive 
for attempting to rescue the unsaved popula- 
tions of the earth. 

Peter and Paul 

It is not necessary to single out every text 
in the apostolic writings which by clever 
exegesis may be shown to bear on the belief of 
the first Christians regarding the character of 
their age and their expectations for the future. 
The judgment of the three leading apostles, as 
expressed in familiar passages, accurately rep- 
resents the feeling of the primitive church as 



THE WORLD 167 

a whole. Those who hold the criticisms which 
the apostles passed on their own times as pre- 
dictions of the long future put much stress on 
the following : "Knowing this first, that in the 
last days mockers shall come with mockery, 
walking after their own lusts, and saying, 
Where is the promise of his coming? for, from 
the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things 
continue as they were from the beginning of 
the creation." 9 Here again we have mention 
of "the last days," and once more must remem- 
ber the limitations of the phrase. Of course, 
there were scoffers in Peter's day who were 
saying, "Where are the signs of his coming?" 
And there are scoffers in our day who are mak- 
ing the same taunt, and there will be scoffers 
in the last day who doubtless will be hurling 
this irritating question. But this declaration 
of itself does not by any means indicate that 
the world as a whole will be scoffers, much less 
that the Christian Church will contain an im- 
mense body of nominal adherents who will be 
thrusting forward this insolent inquiry. It is 
a mere delirium of the imagination to assume 
that what is here designated as a special class 
will be, in fact, the majority of those who live 
in the world, or even an immense number, 
much less that these will be enrolled in the 



9 2 Peter 3. 3, 4. 



168 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Church of Christ. Most Christian people in 
our day believe that Christ will come again, 
and as the church increases in magnitude this 
conviction will spread far and wide. 

It is of the utmost interest to see what Paul 
says upon this matter; and, indeed, he says 
more than any other apostle. In 2 Corin- 
thians, 4. 4, he declares that "the god of this 
world has blinded the minds" of those who do 
not believe, so that the gospel cannot pene- 
trate their hearts. This is taken by some per- 
sons to mean that not only was the world 
incorrigible in Paul's day, but that it will 
continue to be so to the end, because it is 
absolutely incapable of perceiving the truth. 
This is another illustration of the fallacy so 
common among people of this type who make 
a general statement apply specifically to a 
theory which they have formed. It is plain 
to every man who reads without a preconcep- 
tion that what Paul has said is simply that if 
we have difficulty in explaining why the gospel 
is not successful with certain people, we may 
know the reason to be that they have become 
blinded bv worldliness. 

Iniquities of the Times 

Three passages from Paul's letters to Timo- 
thy require scrutiny in this connection, since 



THE WORLD 169 

they are used by many to buttress their theory 
that the world is inevitably growing worse. 
"But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later 
times some shall fall away from the faith, giv- 
ing heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of 
demons/' 10 It is a queer temper which leads 
a man who reads the Bible honestly to take 
this passage as though it said that in the later 
days a majority of people would be of this sort, 
whereas all that Paul predicts is that some 
shall depart from the faith, which certainly 
does not indicate that a preponderant number, 
or even many, will do this. People have been 
guilty of such apostasies from the days of 
Christ until now, and it is presumed that such 
departures from the truth will occur through 
all the following centuries. But it is a mani- 
fest abuse of this passage to say that it indi- 
cates that the world will steadily grow worse 
and the church increasingly feeble. 

"But know this, that in the last days griev- 
ous times shall come. For men shall be lovers 
of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, 
railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, 
unholy, without natural affection, implacable, 
slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no 
lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, 
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 

10 1 Timothy 4. 1. 



170 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

holding a form of godliness, but having de- 
nied the power thereof; from these also turn 
away." 11 Here we have again the phrase "in 
the last days," and must remember its limita- 
tions. The brief period in the apostle's mind 
has now run nineteen centuries. Paul saw the 
grievous conditions of his own day, and he 
predicted that they would continue. No one 
would be stupid enough to deny the likelihood 
of this. The human heart does not change. In- 
dividuals will be wicked to the end, but that 
does not mean either that individuals will be 
more wicked then than now, or that they will 
be relatively greater in number than now. If 
the people who use such a passage to prove that 
the world is retrograding would, in their inter- 
pretations, confine themselves to what is writ- 
ten instead of thrusting into the word of God 
what has no place therein, they would com- 
mand larger respect. 

"But evil men and impostors shall wax 
worse and worse, deceiving and being de- 
ceived." 12 Certainly ! they always have grown 
worse and worse, and they always will. It is 
of the very essence of evil that it should in- 
crease in any human heart where it is per- 
mitted to reside. If a man continues to be evil, 
he will always grow worse and not better. Sin 

» 2 Timothy 3. 1-5. 12 2 Timothy 3. 13. 



THE WORLD 171 

is forever progressing toward a climax. This 
is of its very nature. Evil men and seducers 
will never get better while they continue to be 
evil men and seducers. That is shown by ex- 
perience every day, and we do not for a mo- 
ment undertake to deny it or even to qualify 
it. But the passage does not say that the num- 
ber of sinful men will increase relatively to the 
population of the world. 

The Present and the Future 

Paul's eye is upon his own age, which he 
expects will soon be terminated by the advent 
of Christ to judgment. He does not, in the 
passages just quoted, forecast the long future, 
in a section of which we are now living. Never- 
theless, the evils he describes are recurrent in 
history. Again and again the picture he draws 
of his "last time" can be put down upon a place 
or a period and found exactly to fit it. This 
will ever be till the end comes. But it involves 
no proof that society will steadily deteriorate 
and the church grow feebler as the centuries 
melt away. There are strong reasons for be- 
lieving that Paul took no such gloomy view of 
even the immediate future as some w T ho quote 
him take of the present and the distant future. 
In illustration the following passage may be 
cited : 



172 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

"For I would not, brethren, have you igno- 
rant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your 
own conceits, that a hardening in part hath 
befallen Israel, until the fullness of the Gen- 
tiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be 
saved : even as it is written, 

There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer ; 
He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : 
And this is my covenant unto them, 
When I shall take away their sins." 13 

The Number of the Elect 

This is one of the most significant prophecies 
in the New Testament. The phrase, "the full- 
ness of the Gentiles," recalls the words of our 
Lord in his apocalyptic discourse, "until the 
times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." 14 There 
time is the point of application, here it is the 
proportion of the Gentiles who are to be saved. 
The number is indefinite but preponderant. 
The apostle predicts the evangelization of the 
world outside of the Jewish nation before the 
conversion of the latter. Israel will be saved, 
but not until a vast majority of other people 
have been brought to Christ. Neither in the 
case of the Jews nor in that of the Gentiles 
does Paul say that everyone will be converted ; 
but the words "fullness" and "all" certainly 

» Romans 11. 25-27. M Luke 21. 24. 



THE WORLD 173 

point to an immense number of the elect, and 
hence to a comparatively small number of the 
reprobate. 

Light is thus thrown upon another passage 
which is frequently misused to prove, first, that 
the only business of the church is to assemble 
the saints till the body of Christ is complete, 
and, second, that the elect saints will be but a 
handful in comparison with the lost. A church 
council is being held in Jerusalem over the 
question, To what extent ought Jewish ordi- 
nances to be binding on Christian converts? 
Peter tells his experience in preaching the 
gospel to Gentiles, and says that their conver- 
sion and receiving of the Holy Ghost satisfies 
him that God does not wish them to be loaded 
down with cumbersome and unprofitable cere- 
monies. Paul and Silas declare the miracles 
and wonders which they have witnessed among 
the Gentiles, and agree with the opinion of 
Peter. Then James says: 

"Brethren, hearken unto me: Symeon hath 
rehearsed how first God visited the Gentiles, 
to take out of them a people for his name. And 
to this agree the words of the prophets; as it 
is written, 

After these things I will return, 
And I will build again the tabernacle of David, 
which is fallen ; 



174 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

And I will build again the ruins thereof, 

And I will set it up : 

That the residue of men may seek after the 

Lord, 
And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is 

called, 
Saith the Lord, who maketh these things 
known from of old." 15 

It is here simply affirmed that God proposes, 
in view of Israel's rejection of the gospel, to 
extend his proffer of salvation to the pagan 
world, thus more than compensating for the 
temporary blindness of the Jews. James sup- 
ports this declaration by a citation from the 
prophet Amos. Instead of seeing in this pas- 
sage evidence that a meager company of the 
elect is to be separated from humanity, we 
should see in it a proof that Christ contem- 
plates the gathering of a vast "people for his 
name." 

In fact, it would not be difficult to show 
from the writings of Paul that he counted on 
a perpetual growth of the Christian propa- 
ganda until it issued in triumph over the 
world. His indefatigable labors through the 
Roman empire prove that he felt it his busi- 
ness to capture the civilization of his day for 
Christ. History records that he so far suc- 

"Acts 15. 13-18. 



THE WORLD 175 

ceeded that in the generations immediately fol- 
lowing the heathen gods were hurled from 
their altars, and the Christian gospel became 
the prevailing faith of the empire. 

The Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition 

Against any suggestion that Paul was hope- 
ful of continuous progress for the kingdom of 
God, under the present order of things, some 
will urge the following remarkable passage: 
"Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gath- 
ering together unto him; to the end that ye 
be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet 
be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or 
by epistle as from us, as that the day of the 
Lord is just at hand ; let no man beguile you in 
any wise : for it will not be, except the falling 
aw T ay come first and the man of sin be revealed, 
the son of perdition, he that opposeth and 
exalteth himself against all that is called God 
or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the 
temple of God, setting himself forth as God. 
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with 
you, I told you these things? And now ye 
know that which restraineth, to the end that 
he may be revealed in his own season. For 
the mystery of lawlessness doth already work : 
only there is one that restraineth now, until 



176 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAItf 

he be taken out of the way. And then shall 
be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord 
Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, 
and bring to nought by the manifestation of 
his coming ; even he, whose coming is according 
to the working of Satan with all power and 
signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit 
of unrighteousness for them that perish; be- 
cause they received not the love of the truth, 
that they might be saved. And for this cause 
God sendeth them a working of error, that they 
should believe a lie: that they all might be 
judged who believed not the truth, but had 
pleasure in unrighteousness." 16 

What does that passage mean? We might 
well wish that Paul had explained it to us. It 
would have saved the advocates of grotesque 
theories a great deal of brain weariness and 
prevented them from resorting to much arti- 
fice. It is evident that he had told the Thes- 
salonians what enabled them to understand his 
words because he said, "Remember ye not, 
that, when I was yet with you, I told you these 
things?'' 17 He is simply reminding them of 
what he had previously said, the significance 
of which he believed was clear to them, though 
they had apparently overlooked it in their 

18 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-12. 
17 2 Thessalonians 2. 5. 



THE WORLD 177 

eagerness to believe that Christ was almost 
immediately to return. Paul did not see fit 
to put down his explanation in writing. Evi- 
dently, the Holy Spirit did not inspire him to 
go on with an elaborate interpretation. It 
would look as though God did not care to make 
a complete revelation through Paul touching 
this matter. Perhaps it could not be appro- 
priately committed to succeeding generations, 
since experience and history would finally be 
a perfect commentary on all prophecy. But 
the trouble with many theorists is that they 
cannot wait. They want to know immediately 
what this passage means, and since they have 
no sure revelation, they use their imaginations, 
and with remarkable agility. They find texts 
here and there which, like a child's building 
blocks, can be fitted into a structure that 
pleases them, though it may not be a fine piece 
of architecture. They look over history and 
find events which resemble items in this proph- 
ecy, and they are quite satisfied. But the next 
generation comes along and knocks over the 
pile just as a naughty boy might topple over 
the blocks of his brother, and then they begin 
all over again. So the man of sin in this 
passage has been applied to Nero, for the 
early Christians thought the picture exactly 
matched him. Later the idea gained credence 



178 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

that it was the pope, and later the papacy as 
an institution. The Roman Communion re- 
torted by applying it to Protestantism. After- 
ward the Christian world referred it to 
Napoleon Bonaparte, and there is no doubt 
that there are English, Belgians, French, 
Italians, and others who now think it is the 
German Kaiser. So the interpretation changes 
from age to age. The fact is that we do not 
know, though possibly some devout scholars 
may have made a close guess. It may require 
a good many thousands of years to fill out that 
picture and make it possible for future genera- 
tions to understand what is involved in this 
apocalyptic passage. On the other hand, it 
may be that the thing so prophesied has been 
fulfilled, not completely and ultimately, but 
typically and partially. Perhaps the wretched 
times in the Middle Ages, when religion 
seemed to have become bankrupt, can be made 
to stand for the terrible evil herein predicted, 
though it may be but one in a series of such 
calamities. Perhaps every recurrence of 
frightful iniquity is in partial fulfillment, the 
present European war, for example, being in 
some of its aspects as hideous a piece of infer- 
nal wickedness as the world has ever known. 

Remembering that the Jews in an earlier 
time had looked upon Antiochus Epiphanes as 



THE WORLD 179 

the superlative personal manifestation of iniq- 
uity, and that Paul's mind was saturated with 
the apocalyptic literature of the Hebrews, both 
that of the Old Testament and that which was 
not admitted into the Bible ; and remembering 
that prophetic language cannot be subjected to 
the same rhetorical laws which are necessarily 
applied to simpler and more precise forms of 
composition, we need not be concerned to make 
a close and accurate interpretation of this pro- 
foundly mysterious passage. Those who have 
attempted to do this, seeking to give each 
minute particular a precise and rigid meaning, 
have fallen into many foolish and unprofitable 
vagaries. The fundamental points in the 
prophecy are not hard to discern, and these 
are sufficient for all who are not carried away 
by a passion to solve puzzles or dispose of 
curiosities. 

A Study in Proportions 
That on the return of Christ evil will be 
exhibited in its most sinister forms, as is 
admitted elsewhere, is inevitable from the 
very nature of sin. Moreover, the contrast 
between the frightful apostasy of the few 
and the fidelity of the body of the earth's 
inhabitants who have been redeemed from 
wicked ways will be very startling. The dra- 
matic elements of the comparison may lead 



180 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

to the feeling that wickedness is more ram- 
pant than ever. It is also far from incred- 
ible that this iniquity of the minority will 
become in a sense incorporate, or federated 
under some unified leadership raising itself 
like a serpent to strike its fangs into its 
victim. It may follow the individual guid- 
ance of a conspicuous leader, the devil or one 
of his most capable representatives among 
men. It is natural that the final conflict be- 
tween good and evil on this planet should be 
most terrible, that the assault of iniquity 
should be supremely venomous. But that does 
not necessarily mean that sinfulness will rally 
to its standards the majority of men then alive. 
Paul does not say anything of this sort in the 
passage under consideration. The worst men 
that ever cursed the earth will probably 
flourish when Christ comes back. But the best 
men and the most intelligent Christians ever 
known will also be alive at that time. The 
summits of both good and evil will tower aloft. 
That is in perfect harmony with the very con- 
stitution of things in this world of probation 
and discipline. What the power is which 
restrains the final outbreak of consummate 
iniquity until the time for it is ripe — whether 
the Holy Spirit, the church, the force of civi- 
lization, or what — we need not torture our 



THE WORLD 181 

minds to ascertain. Is it not enough to know 
that it is held back, and that in due time, when 
"the lawless one" shall be revealed, the Lord 
Jesus shall slay him "with the breath of his 
mouth"? 

There is nothing in the Scriptures which 
says that the whole world will be given over 
to the most virulent forms of iniquity, or that 
even a majority of the inhabitants of the globe 
will be characterized by such desperate sinful- 
ness. Indeed, if we press the words of Jesus 
to the farthest point of literalness, we could 
not say that more than one half the population 
of the globe would be evil. "Then shall two 
men be in the field; one is taken, and one is 
left: two women shall he grinding at the mill; 
one is taken, and one is left." 18 Of course, the 
passage means nothing so mathematically 
exact as that. It signifies that, as society will 
be going on as usual, saints and sinners work- 
ing together in their several occupations just 
as they do now, the coming of the Son of man 
will separate them regardless of the fellowship 
they may have on the earth. The fact that 
people are good will not prevent their being 
torn from their associates in business, saints 
being separated from sinners by an inevitable 
law of differentiation. 



18 Matthew 24. 40, 41. 



182 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

What Did Jesus Think? 

When we turn to consider the conditions at 
the end of the age, as they were intimated in 
our Lord's apocalyptic discourse, we are con- 
fronted by this picture : "And as were the days 
of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of 
man. For as in those days which were before 
the flood they were eating and drinking, mar- 
rying and giving in marriage, until the day 
that Noah entered into the ark, and they 
knew not until the flood came, and took them 
all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of 
man." 19 This is more elaborately given by 
Luke in an earlier part of his record, and there 
includes a reference to the destruction of Sod- 
om. 20 This prediction has been used to prove 
that our Lord taught that the world would be 
at its worst when he returned, whereas it has 
only to do with the fact that when he comes 
again the course of the world will be going on 
as usual, and does not indicate the actual spir- 
itual conditions of the age. Even the most con- 
servative millenarians admit this. One of 
these writers, commenting on this passage and 
giving it practically the interpretation here set 
forth, says: "Some would press these words 
further than this and make them teach that 



» Matthew 24. 37-39. 20 Luke 17. 26-30, 



THE WORLD 183 

as the days of Noah and Lot were peculiarly 
wicked days, so will the days of our Lord's 
return be days of extraordinary wickedness, 
but this is pressing the words which our Lord 
speaks here beyond their evident intent. Our 
Lo'rd meant what he explicitly says, that men 
will be engaged in their usual occupations, 
little thinking the Lord is near, and in a mo- 
ment he will come." 21 In Christ's great par- 
able of the final judgment 22 the fact that the 
Son of man will separate the sheep from the 
goats impresses the writer just quoted as indi- 
cating that the world at the time of Christ's 
coming will be far from a state of salvation. 
We do not maintain that the whole world will 
be actually converted to Christ before his 
return, but we do contend that there is noth- 
ing in this passage of itself which necessarily 
contradicts such an opinion. 

It simply does not say anything to show 
what the condition of people will be at the time 
of Christ's return. It is said that all nations 
are to be brought before him. Certainly the 
multitudes who are dead are to be reckoned in 
the number, and we know that at that time the 
number of the dead will be incalculablv larger 
than the number of those living at that mo- 

21 R. A. Torrey, The Return of the Lord Jesus, pp. 104, 105. 

22 Matthew 25. 31-46. 



184 WHEN CHEIST COMES AGAIN 

ment. There will have been sleeping in the 
dust the sheep and the goats to incomprehen- 
sible numbers to be judged in addition to all 
who are alive when he comes. 

Parables of the Kingdom. 

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, as 
he did almost constantly, he sometimes had in 
mind a spiritual kingdom which was already 
operating in the world, and at other times his 
thought was dwelling upon the future tri- 
umphant manifestation of that kingdom after 
he had returned to judge the world. This any- 
one can see by reading the passages in the New 
Testament which record Christ's words about 
the Kingdom. Sometimes he is thinking of 
the quiet, unobtrusive, gradual entrance and 
spread of that kingdom in the hearts of 
believers and organized society. At other 
times he is forecasting the visible and glorious 
victory of that kingdom over all the sovereign- 
ties of the world. Now and then these con- 
ceptions, which are often separately regarded, 
are so blended together in his speech that it 
is difficult to say with certainty which is pre- 
dominant in his thought at the moment. Yet 
it is never impossible to see what it is he 
expects the Kingdom to do among men, or how 
he believes it will operate in society. 



THE WORLD 185 

There are a few of his parables which one 
would think to be unmistakable. But when a 
theory is to be advanced or supported the dis- 
tortions to which these are subjected are amaz- 
ing. In the parable of the tares and the 
wheat 23 we have a simple illustration of the 
wisdom of not attempting violently to root out 
the evils which spring up in the same soil in 
which righteousness is growing, and of the pro- 
priety of waiting until the end of the world 
for such adjustments as will then inevitably be 
made. This does not satisfy those who are sure 
the world is becoming worse, however, and 
they call attention to the fact that weeds grow 
faster than wheat, and that, therefore, our 
Lord meant that, as time went on, the field, 
which is the world, will be overrun with tares, 
which will be vastly in excess of the wheat 
when Christ comes back. If this interpreta- 
tion were carried out to its logical conclusion, 
it would mean that in time the wheat would 
be entirely choked to death. 

Now, it is a principle of sound interpreta- 
tion that the parables of Christ in each in- 
stance are intended to illustrate only one 
point, and that single object always stands out 
so prominently that anyone of ordinary intel- 
ligence cannot miss it. Incidentally, other 

23 Matthew 13. 24-30. 



186 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

points will also be illustrated if one cares to 
make the application, but the parable is not 
spoken for more than one purpose, and, if it 
does not contain its own key to interpretation, 
the meaning of the parable can be easily gath- 
ered from the context. In this case it is so 
clear that the abuse of it is unpardonable. 
Jesus virtually says, "Do not tear up the weeds 
at this time in the growing field, because you 
will hurt the wheat. " Now, this is precisely 
what certain extremists wish to do. They 
would like to define the elect and stand aloof 
from those whom they think outside the pale. 
Our Lord is saying to them, as he said to his 
apostles : "You think you know who the good 
and the bad are. You believe you can point 
out the saints and those who are not saints. 
Be not so sure. Wait until the end of the 
world. If you rip up the weeds you will 
destroy the wheat." 

The Leaven in the Lump 

Another illustration of what Jesus evidently 
thought about the kingdom he had come into 
the world to establish is to be found in the 
parable of the leaven. 24 The plain interpreta- 
tion of this parable lies immediately on the 
surface. The kingdom of heaven is like the 

24 Matthew 13. 33; see also Luke 13. 20, 21. 



THE WORLD 187 

leaven, the fermentative qualities of which 
enable it to penetrate the batch of dough until 
the whole substance has been impregnated with 
its energy. But this is not a satisfactory ex- 
planation for some, who say that leaven is 
always corruption. Yeast contains the prin- 
ciple of decay. Therefore the use of the figure 
here means the introduction of influences 
which adulterate even the doctrine of grace 
and ultimately poison the world. The mys- 
tery of iniquity works, and will work, until the 
whole church has been permeated by it. 

Of course the foundation of this theory is 
that leaven elsewhere in the Bible is used to 
represent a corrupting agency, as the leaven 
of the Pharisees, to which our Lord referred as 
hypocrisy. 25 Of course no biblical scholar 
denies that in the great majority of cases 
the word "leaven" is employed to typify that 
which is corrupting and deteriorating; but 
when Christ says that the kingdom of heaven 
is like leaven, we are sure he cannot mean 
that the kingdom is in process of decay. 
Once again let it be remembered that only 
one point in a parable is primarily intended 
to be illustrated. Here it is the energy of 
fermentation, and not the scientific explana- 
tion of fermentation, which is involved. The 

28 Luke 12. 1; see also 1 Corinthians 5. 7. 



188 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

kingdom of heaven is like yeast in its power 
to extend its influence. It will pervade the 
whole body of society, and, if you were to 
carry Christ's figure out to its ultimate im- 
plication, it would mean that the kingdom 
of heaven will embrace the entire world of men 
and women if it be given time enough to accom- 
plish its purpose. 

The fact that a figure is used in one way 
almost exclusively is no reason for us to think 
that it may not be used in some other way. For 
example, one could speak of a rill at the top 
of a mountain, gathering power and volume 
from every little rivulet which flows into it 
as it proceeds down the mountainside, at 
length developing into a great stream, which 
finally becomes a broad river sweeping every- 
thing before it until it empties into the sea, as 
a type of the progressiveness of sin from small 
beginnings to great endings. We could say 
that no one can tell when he commences to do 
evil how vast the results will be. As life moves 
on, each day will add something to the volume 
of his iniquities until they become as great as 
the mighty river sweeping resistlessly to the 
ocean. On the other hand, the same figure 
could be employed to show the progressive 
development of a good life, which, beginning 
upon the mountain height in a little spring of 



THE WORLD 189 

righteous endeavor and holy ambition, gathers 
strength as it goes, each new act of kindness 
contributing to its power, until at length it 
becomes a mighty river of beneficence, making 
the country through which it flows rich with 
flowers and fruits, and at last pouring its flood 
into the mighty ocean to sweeten and make 
wholesome the whole earth. So, while the 
leaven is ordinarily used to illustrate corrupt- 
ing agencies, there is no restriction upon our 
Lord which compels him invariably to employ 
it in that way, and common sense shows that 
he did not so use it in this instance. 

Other Misused Passages 

When once the prejudice in behalf of a 
theory has been generated, there is no telling 
to what absurdities it will lead. For example, 
the parable of the mustard seed, 26 which so 
clearly uses the great productive principle of 
the earth, by which a great tree is evolved from 
the smallest of seeds, to typify the expansive- 
ness of the kingdom of God, is mutilated by 
some theorists to mean "outward growth 
sheltering evil," the birds that lodge in the 
branches of the tree being figures of the iniqui- 
ties which attach themselves even to the Chris- 
tian Church. It would seem as though this 

26 Matthew 13. 31. 



190 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

were so preposterous as only to require state- 
ment to carry its own refutation. 

At the close of his parable of the unjust 
judge, our Lord asks : "Nevertheless, when the 
Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the 
earth?" 27 The question is left unanswered by 
the Master. A similar silence would befit those 
who noisily proclaim that the rhetorical query 
of Jesus means that in this way he suggested 
there would be little or no faith among 
men when he should return. But the context 
shows that our Lord was in no such pessimistic 
mood when he uttered these words. He had 
been comparing the surrender to the widow's 
appeal which the unjust judge made under 
protest with the loving readiness of God to 
"avenge his elect, that cry to him day and 
night/' saying that "he will avenge them speed- 
ily." Then he exclaims, "Nevertheless, when 
the Son of man cometh, shall he find" not 
"faith" in general, but "the faith," as the 
original text has it, "the faith" in particular 
which is denoted by the parable. The use 
of the definite article gives faith a specific 
application. It could be rendered "this faith," 
the faith which enabled the woman to persist 
in supplications for the redress of her griev- 
ance, the faith which will qualify men to con- 

« Luke 18. 1-8. 



THE WORLD 191 

tinue in prayer, when they are confronted by 
unhopeful conditions, the faith that believes 
God will make things right in due time. The 
Son of man, who "emptied himself so that he 
could not tell when he would return, expresses 
no judgment in this instance concerning the 
probable situation when he should come again. 

Jesus Never Despaired 

We may say reverently that Jesus was the 
supreme optimist of his day. He never gave 
up any man but Judas Iscariot, who willfully 
tore himself away from the Master's fellow- 
ship. He never uttered a word which suggests 
that he did not expect to win his way. His 
aspirations and anticipations are easily gath- 
ered from the trend of his parables and the 
evident intention of his ministry. "And I, if 
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
unto myself," 28 does not sound like anything 
but a comprehensive triumph for the cross, a 
victory to be gained by the power of his sacri- 
ficial life and death over the consciences and 
affections of men, and not by some sudden 
overwhelming display of material force such 
as misguided persons in our time are so confi- 
dently but unwisely proclaiming. 

28 John 12. 32; see also: Hebrews 2. 9, 10; Romans 5. 18; 
1 Timothy 2. 6; Matthew 20. 28; Mark 10. 45. 



192 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

The Early Church and the Second Coming 

It was very natural that the early Christians 
should be deeply impressed by the evil of the 
world about them, since they were undertaking 
to oppose the traditions of the ages among 
their own people, and also among the pagans 
to whom they soon carried their gospel, awak- 
ening the sternest antagonism wherever they 
went. The expectation of a speedy return of 
our Lord to the earth was a comfort to them, 
particularly when they felt that he probably 
would come back within their own lifetime 
and overpower their enemies and establish 
his kingdom on the earth. We have seen 
how they interpreted the words of Jesus to 
mean these things. But in addition to this 
it was difficult for them to realize that Christ 
could triumph in the world unless he appeared 
in bodily presence and put himself into the 
midst of the conflict at the head of his own 
forces. A victory over the Eoman empire, 
under the authority of which they were being 
relentlessly persecuted, seemed impossible to 
them without this advent of our Lord. But 
when within three centuries Christianity did 
actually bring Constantine the emperor to his 
knees, and Christianity became the official 
religion of the empire, the feeling that Christ's 



THE WORLD 193 

bodily presence was indispensable to his tri- 
umph gradually lost its hold upon their hearts 
and minds. Thus the expectation of the early 
return of our Lord grew dim, until at length 
it became the habit of theologians to explain 
the prophecies relating to the second advent 
in accordance with the progressive develop- 
ment of history. 

The Modern Parallel 

A similar process is going on in our day. 
Many devout persons are disturbed over the 
gigantic task of the Christian Church, which 
they feel to be an impossible performance with- 
out the immediate bodily presence of Christ as 
leader. They observe that after nineteen cen- 
turies of effort the result produced is appar- 
ently not commensurate with the effort ex- 
pended. They note that there are only about 
four hundred millions of nominal Christians 
in a population of more than one billion five 
hundred millions. Worse than that is the fact 
that of those who are nominal Christians, com- 
paratively a small number are aggressive and 
deeply spiritual. They argue that at the rate 
Christianity is spreading through the earth it 
will not prevail for a very long time, if, indeed, 
it ever succeeds in establishing itself univer- 
sally in the world. They, therefore, become 



194 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIK 

impatient and disconsolate over the situation. 
Their trouble is increased by the prevalence 
of wickedness even among those nations which 
have a theoretically Christian civilization. 
They see that no people on the earth has actu- 
ally adopted Christianity as its basal sys- 
tem, and no government is officially regulated 
by Christian teachings. Even England and 
America are far from being Christianized in 
any official sense. Noting these things, they 
throw up their hands over an apparently un- 
equal struggle and declare that only by the 
early return of Christ in bodily form can the 
fight against unrighteousness be won. Hence 
they comfort themselves with those scriptures 
which seem to predict the speedy second advent 
of our Lord, and say : "We need not trouble 
ourselves. Christ is soon coming, and he will 
set everything right/' 

Tokens of Advance 

On the other hand, there are very many 
Christians who do not take a gloomy view of 
the situation. They call attention to the fact 
that Christianity for many centuries was in 
process of developing the doctrines of our 
religion, compacting its energies and organ- 
izing its forces. In this process mistakes were 
made. Worldliness crept in, "Churchianity" 



THE WORLD 195 

took the place of Christianity. It was neces- 
sary that the church should be cleansed by 
many washings from the corruption which had 
invaded it. The German Reformation, of 
which Luther was the chief figure and which 
spread all over Europe in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, represents one of these cleansings. The 
revival of the eighteenth century in England 
and America was another. Similar renewals 
of the Christian spirit will be demanded as the 
years move on, but it is very apparent that the 
Christian movement is a rising tide. The 
breakers dash upon the shore, and the sea 
recedes until the next surge of water is flung 
upon the strand. But the watchful observer 
knows that after each of these refluent move- 
ments the tide reaches a higher point and ulti- 
mately will be at the flood. 

As so long a time was required for getting 
Christianity into the only business for which 
it was designed, it need not awaken any sur- 
prise that it is but little more than a hundred 
years since the missionary idea really took 
hold of the church. The progress made in the 
last fifty years is amazingly greater than in 
any five hundred years preceding. Even now 
we seem to be on the verge of the sublimest 
missionary operations the world has ever 
known. The church is more influential in the 



196 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

life of nations to-day than ever. The conquest 
of the Roman empire to Christianity was a 
kind of formal acquiescence in a system of 
religion which was apparently destined to 
bring everything to its standards. Now the 
acceptance of Christianity is not official, but 
individual. Multitudes of people, regardless 
of surrounding conditions, are earnestly sur- 
rendering their lives to Christ. They are per- 
meating the whole body of mankind with dis- 
tinctively Christian influences. 

Even this absurd, unnecessary and wicked 
war in Europe is bringing millions to their 
knees who hitherto have been rationalists and 
infidels. Meanwhile nations find it necessary 
to apologize for war and to propitiate the sen- 
timent of the world. The belligerents on either 
side of the present conflict are attempting to 
set themselves right before mankind. They 
feel they must answer at the bar of interna- 
tional moral sentiment. There was no need 
to do anything of this sort in past ages. War 
was then the natural and inevitable thing. No 
one felt it necessary to put a nation's cause 
before the world until our Revolutionary fore- 
fathers in their Declaration of Independence 
said that a decent respect for the opinions of 
mankind impelled them to declare the reasons 
of their separation from Great Britain. Their 



THE WORLD 197 

motive in doing this was undoubtedly to get 
their principles afloat in the thought of the 
world. Now the smallest war among civilized 
nations must be defended on alleged grounds 
of moral necessity. 

If we ask what has changed the sentiment 
of the world toward international questions, 
we can instantly reply that it is the progres- 
sive influence of the Christian religion. It is 
simply one of those tokens in current life that 
Christ's parable of the leaven is being fulfilled. 
The kingdom of heaven is proceeding to im- 
pregnate all society with its nutritive power. 
Christ's kingdom is spreading over the world, 
as he said it would. 

For the benefit of those who lugubriously 
proclaim the steady deterioration of the 
church, it seems necessary , to emphasize the 
fact that the church as a whole was never 
more earnest and never more single in its 
devotion than at the present moment. John 
Wesley, who has been proudly but incorrectly 
claimed by the group of millenarians who say 
the world and the church are on the down- 
ward track, published a sermon entitled On 
Former Times, in which he plainly indicates 
that though he may have expected our Lord's 
return before the climax of Christian conquest, 
he could not be regarded as at all in favor 



198 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

of the doleful program which extremists have 
mapped out for the time immediately preced- 
ing our Lord's second advent. He reviews the 
career of the Christian Church from the cen- 
tury in which he lived backward to the begin- 
nings of Christianity, and shows conclusively 
that, deplorable as were the conditions in 
Great Britain when the Methodist revival 
broke out, the church was even then better 
than it had ever been before. He shows that 
the preceding century was inferior in vital 
godliness; that the sixteenth century, despite 
its great reformation movements, was charac- 
terized by an outbreak of injustice and cruelty, 
so that in the religious wars of that time 
not less than forty millions of persons were 
slaughtered within the compass of forty years ; 
that in the thousand years immediately pre- 
ceding the sixteenth century there was little 
evidence of anything but the most unwhole- 
some conditions in the Christian Church. 
Stepping back to the age of Constantine, 
he affirms that the union of church and 
state in the Roman empire was most un- 
fortunate for the cause of religion, as the 
majority of historians have agreed. He shows 
that the church of the century before Constan- 
tine was characterized by great evils, and that 
abominations so prevailed that, as Cyprian 



THE WORLD 199 

said, it was not strange that God poured out 
his fury by grievous persecutions. Tracing the 
church to the first century, even to the apos- 
tolic age, he cites the description John gives 
of the several churches which had been planted 
in Asia, and shows that they w r ere no better 
than many congregations in Europe in his own 
day, and concludes : "Nay, forty or fifty years 
before that, within thirty years of the descent 
of the Holy Ghost, were there not such abomi- 
nations in the church of Corinth, as were 'not 
even named among the heathens'? So early 
did the 'mystery of iniquity' begin to work in 
the Christian Church! So little reason have 
we to appeal to 'the former days/ as though 
they were 'better than these V " 29 

The church of our times is not only the most 
aggressively evangelistic of any period in its 
history, but it more nearly approximates the 
fulfillment of Christ's prayer that all his dis- 
ciples might be one than at any time since our 
Lord ascended from the slopes of Olivet. The 
movements for federation among all Protes- 
tant denominations, for Christian unity among 
Romanists, Greeks, and Protestants, for the 
organic unification of the various branches of 
the great denominations, all point to a spirit 
w T hich has never been in the world since the 

» Wesley's Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 360-362. 



200 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

day when corruptions began to despoil the 
church of her real purpose. It is within the 
memory of middle-aged persons that denomi- 
nations and sects formerly struggled against 
one another with disagreeable frankness. That 
day has passed, and, if there is any danger on 
the horizon with respect to the various denomi- 
national bodies, it is that in their eagerness for 
federation the distinctive peculiarities which 
have made each of them strong in the evan- 
gelization of the world may be entirely lost, to 
the temporary detriment of religion. 

Evangelistic Progress 

The current enthusiasm for foreign missions 
is another evidence of the increasing concern 
of Christian people for the fulfillment of 
Christ's ambitions with respect to the salva- 
tion of the world. The vast opportunities for 
Christian teaching among the non-Christian 
populations of the globe have called forth, 
through the Student Volunteer Movement and 
other agencies for the recruiting of missionary 
forces, the finest workers the world has ever 
known. The church is at the same time being 
awakened to see the necessity for greatly in- 
creased revenues for the carrying forward of 
the missionary propaganda. We appear to be 
on the verge of a great revival of financial 



THE WORLD 201 

offerings on the part of Christian people who 
are increasingly realizing the obligations of 
Christian stewardship. 

The work of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, the Young Women's Christian 
Association, and kindred organizations is de- 
veloping and extending not only through nomi- 
nally Christian nations, but in all parts of the 
world, so that the churches find themselves in 
vigorous competition with institutions which 
have sprung from their own loins, and the 
general stream of beneficence proceeding from 
these various sources is daily widening until 
it gives promise of speedily encompassing the 
world. 

No one who has visited the colleges and 
universities of America can have failed to 
observe the increasing attention paid to reli- 
gion, and the remarkable results in the con- 
version of students which are everywhere 
apparent. Even in those institutions which 
are founded by the state and which, therefore, 
cannot of themselves encourage any distinc- 
tively denominational activities, there are to 
be found college pastors representing various 
divisions of the Christian Church, and their 
number is constantly increasing. 

All students of the intellectual temper of 
our times, as it is related to the spiritual life, 



202 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

must observe the decline of the materialism 
which held so prominent a place in the thought 
of twenty-five years ago, and the consequent 
ascendency of spiritual and ideal conceptions 
as the ruling motives of modern thought. The 
old hard-and-fast mechanical ideas with regard 
to the origin of life and the philosophy of con- 
duct have passed away, and we are seeing a 
glorious revival of spiritual idealism such as 
has not captivated the world for many decades. 

There is an unmistakable improvement in 
the social conscience of the people as a whole. 
The increasing influence of moral considera- 
tions in public and private life is remarkable. 
This is so obvious that it is unnecessary to go 
into detail about it. Everyone is aware of the 
upward trend of modern thought with regard 
to social amelioration. In this connection the 
grasp of the doctrine of the fatherhood of God 
and the brotherhood of man is most striking. 
Religion is centering itself more and more in 
the twofold commandment which Jesus empha- 
sized, and the age is requiring that all profes- 
sions of faith in Christ shall justify themselves 
by the good works which tend to make the 
social conditions of our day more tolerable and 
helpful. 

Everywhere reforms of a social, economic, 
industrial, and political nature are multiply- 



THE WORLD 203 

ing to such an extent that they need but to be 
mentioned in order to be understood in their 
true relation to the general movement toward 
righteousness, which manifests itself in this 
day. Political reform, civic revolutions, hu- 
manitarian movements such as the effort to 
reduce and abolish child labor, the crusade 
for the destruction of the liquor oligarchy, the 
abolition of the opium traffic in China, the 
increased interest in the adjustment of the 
serious problems of marriage and divorce, the 
peace movements which, in spite of the Euro- 
pean war, go on with accumulating strength, 
the vast amount of attention given to religious 
and moral questions in the periodical press 
and even in the ordinary daily newspapers — 
these, and a host of other things which any 
intelligent person can discern, are evidences of 
a growing concern for human welfare which 
aims at nothing less than that redemption of 
society which was so gloriously prophesied by 
the ancient Hebrew seers. The world is grow- 
ing better by the hour. 30 

30 Can we say this in the face of the world war ? Nay, rather, 
because of the war. God is making the wrath of man to praise 
him as never before. The American people might have long 
delayed the extermination of the liquor traffic but for the war. 
God is the supreme strategist. He has seized his opportunity to 
awake the world to righteousness. The nations are learning the 
lesson God has been teaching through all the centuries — let us hope 
it will never be required again — that might cannot make right. 



CHAPTER IX 
WHAT ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM? 

Jesus did not speak of a millennium. Paul 
and the other apostles did not mention it. No 
ancient prophet uses the word. Indeed, it is 
nowhere to be found in the Bible. Strictly 
speaking, it simply means a period of a thou- 
sand years. There is one passage in the book 
of Revelation which describes the reign of 
Christ and the martyred saints for a thou- 
sand years, Satan having been bound for that 
period. 1 That is the sole foundation on which 
is built the doctrine of a millennium in the 
sense usually taught by millenarians. Other 
passages are brought to it from various parts 
of the Scriptures, because they are thought to 
confirm or explain it ; but it is probable that 
without these few verses there would have been 
no such conception of a millennium as is held 
by many Christians. 

But long before the book of Revelation was 
written men dreamed of an age when right- 
eousness and peace would be triumphant. In- 
deed, it seems to be an innate conviction of 

1 Revelation 20. 1-10. 

204 



THE MILLENNIUM 205 

mankind that in a world governed by a right- 
eous God there must come a time when good- 
ness will prevail in the earth. Even pagans 
have cherished this expectation, as is shown 
by the waitings of Hesiod, Ovid, Vergil, and 
others. Every Bible student will remember 
the glowing pictures in the prophecy of Isaiah 
of a redeemed world in which there shall be 
concord among the forces of nature, the crea- 
tures of the animal world, and the human 
race. 2 In the prophecies of Joel, Amos, 
Zephaniah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Malachi, and 
others there are predictions of "the day of 
Jehovah/ 5 in which punishment will be meted 
out to the false nations and to recreant Israel, 
followed by a reconstruction of the national 
life, in which the supremacy of righteousness 
will be attained. It is in the book of Daniel, 
however, that this idea is carried forward into 
its most spiritual implications. Not only is an 
everlasting kingdom to be established upon the 
ruins of alien empires, but the heavenly power 
by which this is to be accomplished will be 
embodied in "one like unto a son of man," 
who in the prophet's vision "came even to the 
ancient of days, and they brought him near 
before him. And there was given him domin- 
ion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the 

2 Isaiah 11. 1-9; also chapters 35, 55, 60. 



206 WHEN CHEIST COMES AGAItf 

peoples, nations, and languages should serve 
him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed." 3 

The Origin of the Millennial Idea 

In the period of Jewish history just preced- 
ing the birth of Christ these ideas of the final 
establishment of an era of righteousness and 
peace took on more definite forms, and in the 
Book of Enoch, which has no place in our 
Bible, we have predictions which furnish a 
link between the apocalyptic messages of the 
ancient Hebrews and the New Testament 
teaching about "last things." Out of the 
indistinct visions of the oldest seers and the 
more precise announcements of the later He- 
brew prophets there slowly grew such a doc- 
trine of the victory of righteousness in the 
long ages to come as made it easy to develop 
the idea of a millennium, the trade-mark of 
which was an age of blessedness on the earth 
before and separate from the final happiness 
of the world to come. 

But the imagination of man was not content 
with such restrained prophecies. Theories 
blossomed luxuriantly. Details were plenti- 
fully supplied. It was assumed that the his- 

3 Daniel 7. 13, 14. 



THE MILLENNIUM 207 

tory of the world was divided into seven 
portions, corresponding with the seven days 
in the Genesis account of creation. Each of 
these divisions would cover a thousand years, 
and there would be six thousand years of labor, 
followed by a thousand years of rest. The last 
portion would be the millennium. This is a 
view which has its adherents to-day among 
Christians who are not familiar with the 
records of human existence on this planet, and 
who believe that the six thousand years are 
about completed, and that the seventh thou- 
sand will begin very shortly. On the other 
hand, some who realize the difficulty of adjust- 
ing history to such a chronology suggest that 
what are called "days-years," founded on 2 
Peter 3. 8, are to be reckoned, and not years 
of twelve months each. This would make the 
time of the millennium 365,000 years of ordi- 
nary length. Many curious theories of compu- 
tation have been advanced, including the sug- 
gestion that, in making account of prophetic 
measures of time, we must remember that 
astronomy reveals three kinds of years, name- 
ly, the solar, the lunar, and the calendar, 
determined by the different revolutions of the 
earth relative to the sun and the moon. By 
using each of these years as any particular 
case may require, dates can be shuffled to suit 



208 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

one's preference. In the Talmud various fan- 
ciful descriptions of the blessedness which the 
millennium will bring are given, including the 
declaration that when the Messianic kingdom 
has been established each vine will yield a 
thousand branches, each branch a thousand 
clusters, each cluster a thousand grapes, and 
each grape twenty-five measures of wine. 

Variations in Millennial Influence 

The idea of the final reign of righteousness 
has captivated men everywhere even outside of 
Jewish and Christian influences. In our own 
times the thought of such a period possesses 
the imagination of multitudes. While not all 
speak of it as a definite period of a thousand 
years, they are looking forward to a time of 
ideal perfection in society. The only passage 
in Scripture on which the theory of a distinct 
period separated from that which precedes and 
from that which follows by clearly marked 
lines of distinction is based, is the one in 
Revelation already referred to. This seems to 
have been seized upon by the Christians of the 
first century, who doubtless expected the mil- 
lennium to be inaugurated in the immediate 
future. When this did not occur, the inge- 
nuity of men was set to work on the problem 
of explaining its delay. Eventually the doc- 



THE MILLENNIUM 209 

trine itself became discredited because of the 
carnal ideas which were associated with it, 
especially by those who were affected by Jew- 
ish influences. It persisted, however, down to 
the fourth century of the Christian era, when 
the church was constrained to give it up by 
some of its foremost leaders, who supplanted 
it with other views. One of the most influen- 
tial theories advanced came from the brain of 
Augustine, who said that the golden era had 
been in process ever since Christ established 
his church on the earth, and that the develop- 
ment of the Christian Church w T as in fact the 
millennium itself. That was taken so literally 
in connection with the passage in the twentieth 
chapter of Revelation that as the year A. D. 
1000 approached, vast numbers of Christian 
people looked for the fulfillment of that proph- 
ecy, on the theory that the millennium was to 
precede Christ's return, after which would 
come the judgment and the end of the world. 
This did not happen, and new theories were 
demanded to account for the failure. A decline 
of interest in the subject naturally followed. 
At the time of the Protestant Reformation, in 
the sixteenth century, under the influence of 
a revived study of the Bible, new interest in 
the millennium was naturally awakened. But 
the grotesque and fleshly corruptions which the 






210 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Anabaptists and other extremists forced into 
the doctrine brought it into great disrepute. 
Since that period it has not enjoyed the favor 
it obtained in the early church. The majority 
of Christians have held that, while the millen- 
nium has not yet come, it will be eventually 
brought to pass through the triumph of Chris- 
tianity, and that when it has arrived Christ 
will return, the gospel dispensation will be at 
an end, the judgment of humanity will be 
given, and the new order for mankind will be 
established. 

Before or After the Return of Christ? 

This is not a satisfactory theory to a very 
considerable body of Christians who insist that 
Christ will return to earth and assume a per- 
sonal, visible, and bodily reign before any 
period which can be called the millennium has 
been inaugurated. Those who hold this opin- 
ion are called premillennialists, and those who 
hold a contrary opinion are called postmillen- 
nialists. On the supposition that there will be 
a definite period, separated from the rest of 
human history by strictly defined boundaries, 
and called the millennium, there is no neces- 
sary hostility between those Christians who 
contend that Christ will return before the 
thousand years begin and those who are 



THE MILLENNIUM 211 

equally sure that he will not come again until 
after this period has been inaugurated. The 
one point on which all premillennialists are 
agreed is that Christ will appear before the 
millennium ; 4 and apparently there is no other 
point on which all of them do unite, unless it 
be that the millennium will occupy a thousand 
years, during which Christ and his saints will 
reign on the earth. Even here there are differ- 
ences of interpretation concerning the thou- 
sand years, some holding that the phrase must 
be interpreted literally, and others that it 
means an indefinite period of great extent. 

But a majority of premillennialists do not 
content themselves with merely affirming that 
Christ is coming before the millennium. They 
fill the space between the present and the sec- 
ond coming of Christ with a picture so dis- 
heartening that one is amazed at the courage 
they show in the face of the tragedy they keep 

4 In a recent article Dr. Charles R. Erdman, of Princeton 
Theological Seminary, a convinced premillennialist, declared: 
"Only two things are essential to the premillennial theory: First, 
that there will be a personal return of Christ; and secondly, 
that an age of peace and righteousness will follow this return. " 
If this were all that the majority of influential premillennialists 
were teaching as indispensable to their system, the author of 
this book would not have felt justified in making modern pre- 
millennialism an object of censure. One might think such a 
doctrine unwarranted in reason or revelation without regarding 
it as especially harmful. But this simple definition is far from 
satisfactory to the great body of premillennialists in our day. 



212 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

before their eyes. They also accompany the 
second coming of Christ with events which are 
in contradiction of the teachings of Jesus, and 
they set up a program of procedure for Christ 
which breaks down under the w r eight of its 
own absurdity. Against such perversions of 
the simplicity of the gospel we may well direct 
our criticisms. 

Scriptural Basis of the Millennium 

These objectionable teachings will be ex- 
amined in our next chapter. We must first 
give attention to the passage which lies at the 
foundation of all theories of the millennium 
that make it a strictly defined period of 
blessedness during which Christ will reign in 
visible and material splendor upon the earth. 
It is true that millenarians teach that the real 
basis of their doctrine is found in Hebrew 
prophecy, and that the famous passage in 
Eevelation is a supplemental detail of an event 
already foretold. But so general are the terms 
of ancient prophecy and so capable are they 
of differing interpretations that, if it were not 
for this one passage, the citations from the 
Hebrew prophets would probably be regarded 
as chiefly proclaiming a far-off conquest of the 
world to righteousness and peace, such as man- 
kind has always dreamed would some day 



THE MILLENNIUM 213 

appear, only in a spiritual and lofty sense 
which no pagan mind has ever conceived. No 
description of this passage is required. We 
may let it speak for itself. 5 

It may not be amiss to suggest in this con- 
nection that a single passage is a somewhat 
unsafe basis on which to build so important a 
teaching as is the doctrine of the millennium. 



5 "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having 
the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he 
laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and 
Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into 
the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should 
deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should 
be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time. 

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment 
was given unto them: and / saw the souls of them that had been 
beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, 
and such as worshiped not the beast, neither his image, and 
received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; 
and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The 
rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be 
finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is 
he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second 
death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of 
Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

"And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be 
loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the 
nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and 
Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom 
is as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth 
of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and 
the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and de- 
voured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into 
the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the 
false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for 
ever and ever" (Revelation 20. 1-10). 



214 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

This hint creates no hesitation in the mind of 
a confirmed millenarian, who insists that if 
there were but a solitary line on this subject 
in all the Bible, it would be perfectly adequate. 
But for the majority of Christians the absence 
of any other passage in the Bible of like im- 
port is exceedingly significant. The funda- 
mental doctrines of Christianity are built 
upon many passages. If we had but one brief 
expression on which to construct our doctrine 
of the Trinity or of the deity of Jesus Christ, 
we should naturally be a little careful about 
the amount of dependence to be placed upon 
that isolated text. 

Embarrassment is naturally increased if the 
one passage upon which a doctrine is built 
happens to be found in a book full of sym- 
bolical or allegorical language such as so 
abundantly pervades the book of Revelation. 
The doctrine of the millennium, as taught by 
many in our time, is based on one passage out 
of the most obscure and difficult book in the 
New Testament, the full meaning of which, it 
is safe to say, not even the wisest millenarian 
has yet been able satisfactorily to explain. 

Still there are minds that would be satisfied 
with even such an uncertain foundation for a 
doctrine, provided the passage seemed to sup- 
port a theory which was dear to them. But 



THE MILLENNIUM 215 

even they must experience a little disquietude 
if they are shown that this passage, when liter- 
ally interpreted, as they insist on doing, is in 
hopeless conflict with other scriptures when a 
literal interpretation is also given to them. 
This embarrassment will be clearly seen later 
when the claims of premillennialists are under 
examination. For the present it may be put 
aside, and it is mentioned here only to suggest 
caution in the use made of the passage before 
us. 

The Book of Revelation 

This remarkable piece of scripture can be 
interpreted without throwing overboard any 
other bit of writing in the New Testament, but 
this is possible only by permitting the book 
of Revelation to stand in its own quality in- 
stead of forcing upon it a character which it 
does not bear. It is a masterpiece of literary 
composition, a fact which ought not to be con- 
sidered harmful to its spiritual values. The 
scholars say it is not written in the best Greek, 
but that does not seriously impair its worth 
as a book which speaks directly to the souls 
of men. The very practical people who turn 
scornfully away from this wonderful produc- 
tion because to them it is a phantasmagorical 
aberration of a too highly imaginative mind, 



216 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

simply show how superficial they are. On the 
same ground they would hurl to the scrapheap 
Dante's immortal epic, Milton's Paradise 
Lost, and even Bunyan's Pilgrim's Prog- 
ress. We have in this book an unsurpassed 
series of pictures which for boldness, vivid- 
ness, and startling contrasts of light and 
shadow have never been approached by the 
genius of man. That fact should be allowed to 
sink to the depths of one's mind before under- 
taking to explain this extraordinary work. 

It was produced in an age when the Chris- 
tian Church was not only under suspicion in 
the Roman empire, but when those who called 
themselves Christians might well feel that the 
triumph of their faith was in actual doubt; 
when, therefore, the supreme need of the hour 
was to keep before the minds of Christians the 
truth that their Lord could not fail and that 
fidelity to him would bring certain rewards, 
while opposition to him would result in the 
destruction of his enemies. The letters to the 
seven churches of Asia one after another hold 
these things up before the mind, not only in 
graphic pictures, but also in stirring precepts. 
Those to whom they are addressed are told to 
be faithful unto death. Christ is coming to 
give every man his reward. Let them take 
heed that they do not lose their crown. To 



THE MILLENNIUM 217 

him that overcoineth shall be given an exceed- 
ing great recompense. 6 

The literary form of the book gives the key 
to the method by which it is to be interpreted. 
It is gloriously set forth at the very beginning. 
After a few introductory sentences the docu- 
ment opens with a vision of the eternal Christ. 
Certain letters to the seven churches then fol- 
low, and they are no sooner concluded than 
the series of visions is renewed, and they 
continue until the very end of the book. If 
people had kept in mind the form which the 
writer adopted, and had proceeded to inter- 
pret the book in the spirit in which it was 
evidently written, they would have been saved 
an immense amount of trouble and a still 
larger quantity of foolishness. In no other 
literature except that of the Bible do people 
undertake to interpret an allegory as they 
would a set of precepts. It seems to be offen- 
sive to certain minds to assume that the Holy 
Spirit would operate through a variety of 
literarv forms. Bv some it is regarded as 
almost a piece of sacrilege to call any work 
in the Bible by its right designation. It seems 
to them to take away from the sublime spir- 
itual motive of the Scriptures to assert that 
any human element is to be found within them. 

•Revelation 2. 7, 10, 17, 26, 28; 3. 5, 12, 21. 



218 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

If the book of Revelation were in any other 
compilation than the Bible, it would imme- 
diately be described as allegory, and no at- 
tempt would be made to consider it in any 
other light. It is no more an attack upon the 
spiritual quality of the Scriptures to call a 
piece of biblical literature poetry, allegory, 
fiction, or philosophy than it is to recognize 
that certain portions are history and other 
parts are divine ordinances. 

Principles of Interpretation 

If the book of Revelation is seen to be 
allegorical from beginning to end, it is a piece 
of impropriety to try to interpret it in any 
hard-and-fast literal sense. When we read 
the Sermon on the Mount or the Ten Com- 
mandments we do not hesitate to pronounce 
that they are to be taken as exactly what 
they appear to be, and, word for word, we 
set them down in our minds as rules of 
conduct which have been inspired by divine 
Wisdom. But when we take up other forms 
of writing found within the Scriptures, if 
we use only ordinary judgment, we strive 
to interpret them according to the mold 
into which their author has cast them. It 
would be an absurdity to interpret Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's Progress as anything but an alle- 



THE MILLENNIUM 219 

gory, but we do not lose the spiritual sig- 
nificance of that immortal work by adopting 
this plan. We agree that it is not a history 
of actual events, but that all the spiritual ex- 
periences which are therein narrated have a 
basis in fact. Thousands of human beings 
have proved them in their own lives. So the 
book of Revelation is not a record of things 
which have been, or a proclamation of things 
that are to be in the precisely factual manner 
that we concede to a work of history or a 
treatise on mathematics or a work on physical 
science. It is well within the ability of the 
modern engineer to tell us the quantity of coal 
stored up in the anthracite regions of our 
country, and to estimate with almost perfect 
accuracy the length of time that will be re- 
quired to exhaust this supply at the present 
rate of consumption. But that is a process 
of exact computation, pursued according to 
methods which have been established through 
long years of study. But to declare that in 
the same way an examination of an allegorical 
book in the Scriptures will enable the investi- 
gator to set down in the calendar of history 
the events which are to follow through the 
course of time until eternity shall be revealed 
is nothing short of absurd. It would never 
have been dreamed of but for the fact that a 



220 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

certain artificial character has been deliber- 
ately fastened upon the literature of the 
Scriptures. 

Since the book of Revelation is of this char- 
acter, the attempt to find an exact counterpart 
in real life, past, present, or future, to each of 
the items so dramatically presented within its 
pages is futile. He who puts his finger on a 
text and then points to an event, and says the 
one absolutely means the other, is involved in 
inextricable confusion. All through the Chris- 
tian centuries men have been trying to do this. 
One dead-sure correspondence after another 
has been exploded by the developments of 
history. That has not daunted the literalist, 
who has gone straight on inventing new proofs 
for the identification of an event which oc- 
curred yesterday with something which the 
author of the book of Revelation predicted 
nineteen hundred years ago. It is an unprofit- 
able performance. 

The book of Revelation is not intended to 
be a mystery, but the unveiling of that which 
has been concealed. The symbolism in it was 
supposed by the author to be intelligible to 
those for whom his book was written. It is a 
revelation "of Jesus Christ, which God gave 
him to show unto his servants, even the things 
which must shortly come to pass : and he sent 



THE MILLENNIUM 221 

and signified it by his angel unto his servant 
John. 1 ' 7 The writer gives in his book the 
visions which have glowed in his inspired 
mind, and he pronounces blessings upon those 
who read, those who hear, and those who keep 
the things he has recorded, saying, "The time 
is at hand." 8 

Christ appears in the beginning and he 
speaks at the end of the book. His glory 
irradiates every page. His triumph rises over 
all its scenes of strife and confusion. The book 
describes the conflicts of Christ and his saints 
and the victory they achieve. The struggle 
with sin and Satan is terrific, but it ends in 
the overthrow of iniquity. The church moves 
on from the wilderness to the land of promise ; 
from trial to triumph. 

Some devout scholars regard the book of 
Revelation as an expansion of Christ's apoca- 
lyptic discourse recorded in the Gospels of 
Matthew, Mark, and Luke. A comparison of 
the ideas expressed in both will show strong 
resemblances. John's mind was filled with the 
imagery in the prophecies of Daniel, Ezekiel, 
Haggai, Joel, Zechariah, and Isaiah. The 
thought of Jewish Christians in his day is re- 
flected by him. The millennial age he pictures 

7 Revelation 1.1. 

8 Revelation 1. 3. 



222 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

is the era of the Messiah which began with the 
establishment of the Christian dispensation. 
The end of that age he thinks to be near. 
Tested by ordinary computations of time, this 
could not be, but in the measurements of the 
divine mind John's prediction is right — "the 
time is at hand/' 

How to Deal with Chapter XX 

From this point of view the process of inter- 
preting the one basic millennial passage is not 
difficult. Let us first pursue the method we 
should use with any other book if we found in 
the midst of it a chapter which seemed, stand- 
ing by itself, to resist all efforts to discover 
its significance. We should go back to that 
which preceded it and try to ascertain how the 
author had developed his thought until it 
reached that particular point. The nineteenth 
chapter of Revelation must be read, espe- 
cially from the eleventh verse, in order 
to understand what is leading up to the 
twentieth chapter; and then the twenty-first 
chapter must be read to understand what is 
the end of the general scheme of this alle- 
gorical representation. Having read the nine- 
teenth chapter, we are convinced that this is 
a vision of Christ conquering. No other per- 



THE MILLENNIUM 223 

son in the universe could be called "King of 
kings and Lord of lords." What is he con- 
quering? The nations of the world. How is 
he doing this? By the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God. What does this 
militant exhibition mean? That the good is 
triumphant over the evil. Was that a thing 
of which the people of John's day needed 
assurance? It certainly was. Is that a thing of 
which we need to be assured? It certainly is. 

But when did this crusade of conquest 
occur? and if it has not yet transpired, when 
will it commence? The answer is that it has 
been proceeding ever since Christ began his 
work in the world; that is, from that day in 
Eden when the work of redemption was an- 
nounced, and the prophecy was uttered that 
the seed of the woman should bruise the ser- 
pent's head. And it will continue until the 
redemptive process has been finished and the 
triumph of the good has become known every- 
where in the world. In other words, this is a 
vision of the divine struggle against iniquity, 
led by the Son of God, and it has been pro- 
gressing during the entire existence of man- 
kind on this planet. 

But some say that this is a prophecy of the 
second coming of Christ. This is impossible. 
For it is totally unlike anything which Christ 



224 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

foretold. It is out of harmony with every- 
thing the apostles said. Jesus declared that 
he would come suddenly on the clouds of glory 
to judge the world and to appoint men to their 
various destinies. That picture is wholly dis- 
similar to the contents of this passage, which 
represents a martial hero coming on a white 
horse, leading the armies of heaven, going out 
to a great fight. As is well known, premillen- 
nialists make this the concluding act in the 
drama of "the tribulation," a period of time 
which they have inserted between the coming 
of Christ to take his saints out of the world 
with him and the time when he and they will 
return to the earth to judge the world, a period 
of incredible suffering for humanity, to be 
closed by the utter destruction of the Anti- 
christ. But this is an arbitrary performance 
which looks like an artifice deemed necessary 
to hold their program together in anything 
like a consistent scheme. We shall find later 
how utterly unwarranted this is, since it makes 
not one coming again of our Lord, but two 
such events, and disarranges the simple order 
of events proclaimed by our Lord. It is enough 
at this point to say that the picture in Revela- 
tion 19. 11-21 is a symbolical putting of the 
age-long contest between right and wrong 
under the leadership of Christ, as opposed by 



THE MILLENNIUM 22o 

his enemies, which is to ensue at last in the 
complete overthrow of iniquity and the con- 
summate triumph of righteousness. 

The Binding of Satan 

An intelligent approach to the millennial 
passage. Revelation 20. 1-10, is thus made pos- 
sible. The fight is not going to last forever. 
An angel with the key of the bottomless pit 
and a great chain binds Satan and flings him 
into prison for a thousand years. Let us 
remember that this is an allegorical book — 
and let us not seek a literal interpretation for 
the chain, the key, or the thousand years. To 
do so is to defeat the ve^ spirit of the book. 
What are a thousand years in the illimitable 
time at the disposal of the eternal Son of God? 
The significance of what is written by Peter 
is clear : "One day is with the Lord as a thou- 
sand years, and a thousand years as one 
day." 9 He has all the time there is, and every 
epochal event in the career of the world is a 
proof that he takes all the time he deems neces- 
sary and experiences no sense of haste or 
urgency, knowing that eternity is his. 

There is, in fact, no certainty that any time 
element whatever enters into the meaning of 



9 2 Peter 3. 8. 



226 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

the thousand years. Wherever else John uses 
numbers — and he does so from end to end of 
this book with astonishing frequency — they 
are employed as symbols. Why should we 
imagine that in this single passage he departs 
from his uniform practice? By comparing 
instance with instance in his usage we ascer- 
tain what is signified by three, four, seven, 
twelve, and the rest. But he mentions the 
thousand years in this one place alone, so that 
we cannot make comparisons, and thus arrive 
at the meaning he wished to convey. One 
thing, however, is so plain that it may serve 
as a reliable guide — John does not use num- 
bers as exact measures of time and space. 
They seem invariably to symbolize qualities, 
characteristics, conditions, and the like. Is 
it reasonable to suppose that we have in the 
thousand years a startling exception? that for 
once he breaks abruptly from his habitual 
method? Is it not safer to say that this phrase 
expresses something other than duration of 
time? A devout scholar has suggested that it 
conveys the idea of completeness, 10 and noth- 
ing else. This is a clever interpretation, as 



10 "Satan is bound for a thousand years; that is, he is com- 
pletely bound. The saints reign for a thousand years; that is, 
they are introduced into a state of perfect and glorious victory " 
(The Revelation of St. John, William Milligan, D.D.). 



THE MILLENNIUM 227 

explained by this writer, but it is not wholly 
satisfactory, as the student will discover when 
he attempts to apply it to every item in the 
passage. Yet it looks in the right direction, 
and is vastly better than a literal understand- 
ing of the thousand years, a theory beset with 
difficulties which no man has ever mastered. 
The truth seems to be that when John, under 
divine inspiration, was intent upon finding 
a suitable figure to express the certainty of 
the devil's defeat, the thoroughness of Christ's 
victory, and the eternal security of the saints, 
he comprehended the drama of redemption in 
one swift panorama, just as the old prophets 
had done, and called the whole movement a 
thousand years. This number he had not used 
elsewhere, nor had he found it with this sig- 
nificance in the Old Testament. In its very 
singularity, as well as in its completeness, it 
would signify to readers acquainted with the 
symbolism of numbers the idea of a glorious 
triumph of righteousness over iniquity. 

Furthermore, there is nothing elsewhere in 
the Bible to justify the theory of a limited 
space in history to be filled by an era of un- 
wonted peace and righteousness, and to be fol- 
lowed by a period of unparalleled wretched- 
ness and sin. Premillennialists are continually 
saying that such a millennium as this passage 



228 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

promises when literally interpreted is fore- 
told by the ancient prophets. 11 This is not 
true. The old seers did foretell a golden age 
of peace and righteousness to follow the advent 
of the Messiah. We believe their predictions 
are at this moment in process of fulfillment, 
and that in due time they will reach complete 
fulfillment. But no prophet ever mentioned 
a period of a thousand years, or any other 
length, during which righteousness would be 
triumphant, and which would terminate in 
disaster. Let us put aside once for all this 
notion of a gap in history, a sacred hiatus, a 
holy parenthesis, like a lucid interval in a 
delirium, followed by a frightful relapse. 
When the reign of peace and righteousness 
has fully come, as come it must, it will remain 
forever. Any other expectation is without 
warrant in Scripture or reason. 

What is described in this passage, therefore, 
is not a millennium of the saints, nor a period 
of righteousness and peace for the world, but 
the overthrow of the devil. It is not a picture 
of a short episode in the history of mankind, 



11 Says Nathaniel West: "Such is the organic and genetic 
character of revelation and of prophecy, that if 'the thousand 
years' are not in Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets, they have 
no right to be in John"; and he labors through many uncon- 
vincing pages to prove that "the thousand years" are in both 
Testaments. 



THE MILLENNIUM 229 

but a symbolical phrasing of a process con- 
tinuing through all the centuries, or a figura- 
tive showing of a permanent situation, namely, 
that the devil is defeated, and has been ever 
since the incarnate Son of God engaged him 
in deadly conflict. Faith anticipates his final 
destruction, conceives it as already accom- 
plished, and accepts it as a fact which is not 
open to discussion. As for the saints, they 
are absolutely safe. The devil cannot hurt 
them. Neither can he permanently deceive 
the nations. He is always being found out, 
and is routed from one position to another till 
the hour of his final extinction. 

While Satan is conceived in this passage 
as defeated, it is recognized that temporarily 
he is simply under restraint. His absolute 
destruction will be effected later. Now he is 
but crippled. He is in a pit that is bottomless. 
He is sealed up that he may not escape. But 
he is a spirit and stone walls and steel bul- 
warks cannot completely neutralize the opera- 
tions of a spiritual being whose access to spir- 
itual beings is by means of spiritual channels 
of communication. Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy's 
body rests under a massive block of stone, but 
her influence for evil will go on for genera- 
tions. Mohammed has been bound in the 
tomb for many centuries, but he still inspires 



230 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

the atrocities of the Turk. Satan's power is 
not finished, but it is much restrained. 

But this binding of Satan : when did it be- 
gin and what does it mean? It began as soon 
as Christ opened the dispensation in which 
we are now living. We know the devils were 
subject to him. We know that he throttled 
Satan on the mount of temptation. We know 
that he said, "I beheld Satan fallen as light- 
ning from heaven." 12 We know that the Son 
of God was "manifested, that he might destroy 
the works of the devil." 13 We know that 
through all the long centuries of human his- 
tory he has been doing this thing, and this is 
the binding which is symbolized in the ma- 
terial figures employed by John. 

Has Christ actually been binding Satan 
through the centuries? Observe the marks of 
his triumph. Where is human slavery in civi- 
lized nations to-day? When it was put out 
of the way a great chain was wound around 
the adversary. It is not necessary to go into 
detail at this point. Further exposition of the 
increasing triumph of righteousness in the 
world appears elsewhere in these pages. At- 
tention need here be called only to the fact 
that, in our own generation, the progressive 

" Luke 10. 18. 
w 1 John 3. $, 



THE MILLENNIUM 231 

conquests of Christ have been remarkably dis- 
played. 

But, is Satan crippled in any definite sense? 
How can a Christian doubt this? Does he 
suppose that evil is left unrestrained to make 
havoc in the world? Knowing the inveterate 
character of sin, does any man doubt that if 
it were left without restraint it would have 
long since utterly destroyed the human fam- 
ily? In a still higher sense, is it not true that 
saved people, those reckoned to be saints, are 
exempt from the attacks of sin which so ter- 
ribly devastate those who have not turned to 
God? Did not Christ himself say that no one 
was competent to pluck out of his hands those 
whom God had committed to him? 14 It seems 
amazing that anybody should doubt that 
Satan's power in the earth, not only in the 
large way described in historic events, but in 
the narrower and more individualistic forms 
of contact with persons, has been gradually 
crippled in this gospel dispensation through 
the preaching of the truth, the means of grace, 
and the protection of the Holy Spirit. 

The Enthronement of Saints 

But what shall be said about the saints 
reigning with Christ during the thousand 

" Joho 1Q. 38, 39, 



232 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

years — not merely those who were martyred, 
but all who worshiped not the beast? The 
answer is another question. Can we think that 
'these saints are dead, and that they are await- 
ing the coming of the Lord? that they are in 
some inactive or unconscious state, and that 
until they are called from their graves they 
have no participation in the blessedness of the 
life hid with Christ in God? The conception 
is revolting, and has no foundation in anything 
Christ has taught. Where are these saints? 
With Christ, of course. Where else could they 
be? Have they not been going to him through 
all these long centuries? Are they not with 
him now? Jesus said in his great priestly 
prayer, "I desire that they also whom thou 
hast given me be with me where I am." 15 In 
a deep spiritual sense, are they not reigning? 

The passage does not say where the saints 
are reigning. Premillennialists affirm it is on 
the earth. The text simply declares "with 
Christ." It does not state that Christ is on 
the earth. An angel does the binding of Satan. 
What is here pictured, as has often been re- 
marked, seems more like an ascent of the 
saints to heaven than a descent of Christ to 
the earth. 

"The rest of the dead lived not until the 



» John 17. 24. 



THE MILLENNIUM 233 

thousand years should be finished." 16 Nothing 
could be plainer. Only the good who are dead 
have risen into that eternal life which Christ 
came to reveal. The evil who are dead are still 
dead in trespasses and in sin. We know that 
is fact, because Jesus declared it: "The hour 
cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear 
shall live." 17 "This is the first resurrection." 
It is a continuous process through all the ages. 
As men hear the voice of God in Christ and 
respond they live, and as they turn deaf ears 
to that voice they die. It is not a question of 
the dissolution of their physical bodies, but 
rather of choices which they make. There will 
be for those who refuse the voice of the Son of 
God as well as for those who have heard his 
voice and respond a final resurrection when 
their bodies will indeed come out of the graves. 
That is the only resurrection which the spirit- 
ually dead will ever have. The good will rise 
to everlasting life. The bad will rise to ever- 
lasting condemnation. That is their second 
death, for evil people die twice, once when 
they pass out of this earthly life, and again 
when they are condemned to eternal death. 
But the saint dies only once, though he has a 

16 Revelation 20. 5. 
H John 5. 25. 



234 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

double resurrection. He rises to life eternal 
when he hears and responds to the summons 
of Christ, and he rises with the glorified body 
at last when all who are in their graves shall 
come forth. "Blessed and holy is he that hath 
part in the first resurrection: over these the 
second death hath no power ; but they shall be 
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign 
with him a thousand years." 18 

But when the thousand years are over, it is 
said Satan will be released. Undoubtedly, for 
his destruction must be brought about by con- 
tact with the conquering forces of righteous- 
ness in a final conflict. In the last desperate 
charge essential to his complete overthrow the 
saints will have their glorious part. It is per- 
fectly natural that evil should come to its most 
hideous climax in that ultimate struggle — 
which does not mean that there will be a vaster 
number of evil people on the earth than ever 
cursed the world before, but that the character 
of sin is such that its most virulent develop- 
ment will come at the end of the age. 

Christ's Second Coming 

But Christ's forces will win. The nations 
will be brought to his standard, and then he 
will come in visible preseuce, when the final 

%ai ■ n iii.il ■ ■ ■!!■ ■■ in . 

" Bevelatioi* 20, 6, 



THE MILLENNIUM 235 

stroke will be delivered by the Mighty One 
who through centuries has led his hosts. He 
will come to take his kingdom and to absorb 
all kingdoms into it. He will sit in judgment 
as he himself precisely predicted. Then the 
ultimate overthrow of evil will be established 
before angels and men. All this is described 
in the passage beginning with Revelation 20. 
11, and running to the end of the chapter. 
Iniquity will then no longer curse the earth. 
A new heaven and a new earth, as typified by 
the imagery of the twenty-first chapter of 
Revelation, will be brought to pass. Immortal 
glory and everlasting development toward God 
will be the blessed fortune of the redeemed. 
As John has so gloriously said : "It is not yet 
made manifest what we shall be. We know 
that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like 
him ; for we shall see him even as he is. And 
every one that hath this hope set on him 
purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 19 

■ 1 John 3. 2, 3. 



CHAPTER X 

MILLENNIAL FANCIES AND 
FALLACIES 

"The Polynesians imagine that the sky 
descends at the horizon and incloses the 
earth/' says Max M tiller. For this reason they 
name foreigners "heaven-bursters/ ' people who 
have broken in from an outside world. In his 
Apocalypse John says, "I saw the holy city, 
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven 
from God, made ready as a bride adorned for 
her husband." 1 This is the finest phrasing we 
have of humanity's fadeless dream that the 
celestial world will some day enswathe the 
earth. The hope is divinely inspired, its ful- 
fillment is sure. 

The expectation of the final triumph of 
Christ and his saints, attended by the estab- 
lishment of a universal kingdom of righteous- 
ness and peace, is such a glorious inspiration 
to faith and godliness that it is an incalculable 
misfortune that its beauty should be marred 
by attaching to it crude and fantastic theories 
of the millennium and the process by which 
this period of felicity is to be introduced. 

1 Revelation 21. 2. 

236 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 237 

Reference has been made several times in 
these pages to the artificial programs which 
premillennialists have devised to precede, 
accompany, and follow the second advent of 
Christ. It is difficult to treat all the advo- 
cates of these schemes of the future with per- 
fect fairness because they differ much among 
themselves, as an examination of the plentiful 
literature they have issued will prove. 2 How- 
ever, the framework of their several structures 
is practically the same. It may be roughly 
outlined, though the frequent appearance of 
books on the subject, with their divergent the- 
ories, leaves the impression that in details the 
doctrine, like the time-tables of certain steam- 
boat lines, is subject to change without notice. 



2 In an article by a premillennialist of high standing, to which 
we have already referred (page 211), twelve things ordinarily 
accredited to premillennialists are said by the writer to be not 
essential to their doctrine. Among these are the following be- 
liefs: That the world is growing worse; that Jesus will return 
to Palestine; that Christ will reign in an Oriental court in Jeru- 
salem, and that the saints will appear as rulers on the earth; 
that the 20th chapter of Revelation is necessary for the argu- 
ment for the millennium; that there will be a secret removal of 
the saints before the Lord appears in wrath to destroy the Anti- 
christ; that there will be two resurrections and three judgments; 
that this world will be destroyed. However, all of these are 
among the cherished beliefs of the mass of premillennialists, 
as was immediately proved by printed attacks upon this writer's 
views. In fact, premillennialism would have little charm for 
thousands who hold it but for these and other dramatic accom- 
paniments with which premillennialists adorn their doctrine. 



238 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

In a general way, however, the following may 
be regarded as a truthful declaration of pre- 
millennial teaching, as presented by its most 
influential expositors. 

The Premillennial Program 

1. It is a mistake, say the extreme premil- 
lennialists, to suppose the Christian Church 
has anything to do with bringing in the mil- 
lennium. It is showing itself less and less able 
to do this every day. 

2. The preaching of the gospel is not for 
the purpose of saving the world. Nothing can 
do that. The gospel is preached as a witness. 
Its principal end is to gather out of the visible 
church the elect, the saints, those who are the 
body of Christ. 

3. The world is steadily growing worse, and 
will increase in wickedness till God can no 
longer permit it to continue. The church is 
becoming relatively feebler and less spiritual 
every day. It seems now to be in its last stage 
of decline. 

4. Toward the rapidly approaching end of 
the present age or dispensation, the very 
climax of iniquity will be reached, and evil in 
some incomparably terrible form will appear. 
Then, when affairs are at their lowest, and 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 239 

while the world is entirely absorbed in fleshly 
interests, Christ will suddenly return. 

5. By that time "the body of Christ" will 
have been completed, that is, the full number 
of the elect will have been converted. This is 
all that is required of the Christian dispensa- 
tion. 

6. Instantly the saints who are in their 
graves will be raised from the dead, and in 
company with the saints who are then living 
on the earth, will be caught up in the air to 
meet their Lord, and continue with him there 
for a season. In the parlance of premillen- 
nialists, this is "The Kapture." 

7. During this period of communion be- 
tween Christ and the elect, apart from the 
world, what is known as "The Great Tribula- 
tion" will occur on the earth. It will last 
three and a half, seven, or forty-five years, 
according to the passage of Scripture selected 
and the interpretation preferred. It will be a 
time of unexampled suffering. It is in this 
stretch of agony that the Antichrist will ap- 
pear. Those who refuse to give him their 
homage will be slain, and will be known as 
"the tribulation saints." 

8. It is during this time also that the un- 
believing Jews will be gathering to Palestine. 
They will rebuild the temple, restore the an- 



240 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAItf 

cient sacrifices, make a covenant with the 
Antichrist, and give themselves over to the 
most desperate wickedness. 

9. Following this interval of anguish Christ 
and the saints who were caught up in the air 
will return to find the world largely given 
over to apostasy, for the majority of the people 
will have yielded obeisance to the Antichrist. 
This crisis is by premillennialists called "The 
Revelation/' because this return of Christ and 
the saints will be visible to everyone, whereas 
"The Rapture," or taking away of the elect 
to meet Christ in the air, will not have been 
observed by mankind generally. 

10. The Antichrist will now be put away, 
having been destroyed by the power of Christ's 
wrath. The "tribulation saints" will be raised 
from the dead. The devil will be chained for 
a thousand years. The nations having been 
judged, Christ will establish his millennial 
reign. 

11. The Jews will be restored to Palestine 
and gathered into Christ's kingdom. Jerusa- 
lem will become the capital of the world. Jesus 
will sit on his throne, his saints reigning with 
him. They will extend their power over all 
the earth. 

12. A period of peace and righteousness 
will now have been inaugurated. The physi- 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 241 

cal universe will be so changed as to conform 
to the requirements of this new era. 

13. After this period of blessedness, desig- 
nated as a thousand years, commonly known 
as the millennium, the devil will be let loose 
for a little space. The most dreadful conse- 
quences will ensue. Satan's host will grow 
to an enormous magnitude. 

14. Presently the final struggle between 
Christ and his saints and the devil and his 
forces will occur. The Armageddon will be 
fought. Unrighteousness will suffer absolute 
defeat. The devil will be completely de- 
stroyed. 

15. Then the heavenly order of human soci- 
ety will be established, never again to be inter- 
rupted by the devil, as was the millennium, 
and Christ and his saints will reign forever. 

16. The signs of the times, according to 
premillennialists, show that the hour of 
Christ's return is near. "The Rapture/' or 
taking away of the saints to meet the Lord in 
the air, may occur at any moment, for any 
instant "the body of Christ" may be com- 
pleted. The church is fast approaching her 
end; already the great apostasy is showing 
itself. The world is on the brink of its abyss 
of infamy : the world-war proves it. To-day 
the hour of doom may strike. 



242 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Additional details are given by some premil- 
lennialists with an exuberant fancy which 
knows no curb, but they are not essential to 
this general outline. 

It will be noted that the outstanding fea- 
tures of this schedule are : ( 1 ) The inevitable 
moral decline of the world, which is thought 
to be growing worse every day. (2) The 
equally certain decline of the church, which 
in proportion to its number of adherents is 
becoming less spiritual every day. (3) The 
failure of the present dispensation to accom- 
plish more than the proclamation of the gospel 
and the gathering of a remnant of saints with 
whom to make a new beginning. (4) The 
absolute necessity that Christ should appear 
in bodily presence to set up the kingdom of 
God on earth, though that kingdom was de- 
clared to be "at hand" nineteen centuries ago. 
(5) The certainty that this kingdom will put 
forth its power in a material, physical, or 
earthly fashion. 

Structure of the Schedule 

This plan of the future is a composite of 
passages taken arbitrarily from many parts of 
the Old Testament and the New, and cemented 
together by the ingenuity of men who take 
delight in such feats of skill. Fundamental to 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 243 

this mosaic is the twentieth chapter of Reve- 
lation, to which consideration has already been 
given in these pages. It is true that much not 
found in this chapter has been employed to 
introduce elements of importance. Neverthe- 
less, the conception of the millennium, without 
which this schedule would be impossible, has 
no scriptural foundation outside this passage. 
Premillennialists hold that Revelation 20 is 
to be taken literally. They believe that the 
author of the Apocalypse was inspired to set 
down this prophecy word for word as it 
appears, and they quote his anathema against 
any who may be rash enough to take away 
from the words of his book. 3 But they also 
believe that every other part of the Bible is 
inspired in the same way, and must be liter- 
ally interpreted, save where the language is 
declared to be figurative by the writer or 
plainly indicated to be such by the very man- 
ner in which it is used. Special stress is laid 
upon the necessity of giving a literal interpre- 
tation to Christ's words, as recorded in the 
four Gospels, and to the Epistles of Paul, who 
wrote more of the New Testament than any 
other man. On the supposition that this is 
the correct attitude toward the interpretation 
of Scripture, let us put this passage in Revela- 

3 Revelation 22. 19. 



244 WHEN CHEIST COMES AGAIN 

tion 20 beside other teachings of the New 
Testament which deserve equal respect and 
veneration, and observe the result. 

" Understandest Thou What Thou Readest?" 

An exposition of Christ's personal teachings 
respecting his second advent has been made in 
previous chapters, and need not now be re- 
viewed. Paul added a few things to the sub- 
ject which are supplementary to the words of 
Jesus, and in harmony with them. The fol- 
lowing passages are of chief significance : "Be- 
hold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not 
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the 
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall 
be changed." 4 This description corresponds 
with what Christ says about his advent being 
as a flash of lightning across the sky. 5 

In order to comfort the Thessalonians who 
were sorrowing for lost loved ones, and 
wondering whether, on the supposition that 
Christ's return was very near, these departed 
friends and relatives would share the triumph 
of their Lord with those who were alive at his 
coming, Paul writes to them : "But we would 

4 1 Corinthians 15. 51, 52. 
6 Matthew 24. 27. 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 245 

not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning 
them that fall asleep ; that ye sorrow not, even 
as the rest, who have no hope. For if we 
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even 
so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus 
will God bring with him. For this we say unto 
you by the word of the Lord, that we that are 
alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, 
shall in no wise precede them that are fallen 
asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of 
the archangel, and with the trump of God: 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then 
we that are alive, that are left, shall together 
with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet 
the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be 
with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one an- 
other with these words." 6 

Having added these descriptive passages to 
what we have already examined in the teach- 
ings of Christ and his apostles, let us compare 
with these scriptures a literal interpretation 
of the twentieth chapter of Revelation. The 
world is going on in its customary way when 
suddenly, in an instant, a voice is heard and 
Christ appears. Then the saints who are dead, 
both the martyred ones mentioned in this pas- 
sage and also all the faithful servants of Christ 

« 1 Thessalonians 4. 13-18. 



246 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

who are asleep in death, and with them the 
righteous who are alive, will be changed and 
caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds. 
Their bodily resurrection at the second coming 
of Christ is clearly taught. 7 Now attach this 
to Revelation 20. 1-3. An angel from heaven 
having the key of the bottomless pit and a 
great chain in his hand is represented as bind- 
ing Satan and flinging him into the abyss and 
sealing it up so that for a thousand years he 
will not be at liberty to deceive the nations. 

Those Who Remain After "The Rapture" 

What shall we say about the persons who 
are still alive and upon the earth? The saints 
have been caught up to meet their Lord. The 
devil has been banished from the earth, but the 
unsaved who are alive are still on this planet. 
They are going on as before, and will continue 
for a thousand years, during which thirty gen- 
erations will be born and die. These unsaved 
people have no Satan to tempt them, for he is 
in prison. But neither have they any saints to 
teach them righteousness, and there is no inti- 
mation of any turning to God during this mil- 
lennium in the only passage in the Bible which 
mentions it. Knowing what we do about the 
tendency of sin to increase, we should expect 

» 1 Corinthians 15. 23, 35, 44. 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 247 

a terrible moral and spiritual decline within 
the thousand years. 

But it may be said that the supposition is 
that the saints who were caught up in the air 
to be with their Lord have returned. Yet the 
naked text does not say so. It simply declares 
they are reigning with Christ during the thou- 
sand years. It does not fix the place. But 
suppose it is on the earth. Remember the 
unsaved are still there. They are marrying 
and giving in marriage. They are buying and 
selling. They are giving birth to children. 
They are dying. Alongside of them, if the 
saints have returned with their Lord, are peo- 
ple who have died and risen from the dead and 
will never die again. Is such a mixture of 
relationships credible? A part of the popula- 
tion are immortals who cannot die, and a part 
are mortals who must die, living together on 
the same planet. Surely, this is confusing the 
present age with the age to come in a most 
astonishing way, and is to thoughtful persons 
unbelievable. 

But suppose the saints with the Lord have 
not returned to the earth, but are still some- 
where between heaven and earth, and plainly 
in sight of the wicked who are still living and 
dying on the earth. This is as incomprehen- 
sible as the former hypothesis. What has 



248 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

become of the idea of human probation? The 
conditions are now so changed that the people 
who live in the millennial period and those 
who had lived before it must certainly be 
judged by totally different standards. Noth- 
ing else would be fair and just, but such an 
adjustment is not mentioned, and would be 
incredible. 

Conflict with Reason and Revelation 

But suppose the saints are neither on earth 
nor in the upper air, but have actually disap- 
peared into heaven just as Christ did at his 
ascension. Then we have this dilemma : Christ 
has appeared to everybody's view, as he him- 
self prophesied, and as the Apocalypse of John 
affirms. 8 He has disappeared from the earth, 
taking with him all the saved people living and 
dead. Later he returns to the earth with the 
saints to judge the world. This, then, will be 
his third coming to the world and not his 
second advent, which teaching is contrary to 
every other part of the scriptures referring 
to the subject. 

But these difficulties are not the end of 
trouble. When the thousand years are over, 
according to the passage before us, Satan is 
to be released, and he is to be welcomed by 

8 Revelation 1. 7. 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 249 

a host as numerous as the sands of the sea, 9 
who follow him and make war upon the saints 
who have either been on the earth, in the mid- 
air, or in heaven, and have returned. In any 
case it is obvious that the people who live 
through the millennium have been, in the 
main, a most degenerate population, or the 
devil would not have such a massive army back 
of him. Thus the millennium is shown to have 
been, not a triumphant and universal reign of 
righteousness, but a time of increasing moral 
and spiritual decline. Things have gone to the 
bad most disastrously. 

Furthermore, if Christ has been reigning 
on the earth in visible presence during that 
period of a thousand years, we are compelled 
to conclude that the revolt against him and 
his government has occurred in spite of the 
majesty of his presence, and the power of his 
sovereignty. This is, of course, unthinkable. 
Moreover, it is not credible that Christ would 
retreat from the kingdom over which he has 
been ruling for a thousand years in order that 
his enemy, the devil, might have a final chance 
to display his power, even though it were for 
the purpose of the ultimate manifestations of 
the glory and supremacy of Christ. 

In any case, Satan's triumph is short. Fire 

• Revelation 20. 8, 



250 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

falls from heaven, the great throne appears, 
the books of judgment are opened, and all men 
are compelled to render an account according 
to their works. Nevertheless, what is put forth 
by a literal interpretation of this passage is 
that when Christ comes the second time he is 
to have but a temporary and abortive reign of 
a thousand years before he has his final victory 
over Satan and hell. This is simply contra- 
dictory of all the scriptures outside of this one 
passage which bear on Christ's second advent. 
A literal interpretation of Revelation 20 can- 
not be fitted into a literal interpretation of 
other important parts of the Bible. 

But there are more definite and impressive 
conflicts with the scriptures than even those 
which have been just mentioned. Let us take 
up some of them. 

Direct Contradictions of Scripture 

Jesus said that at his return the sun and 
moon would cease to shine, and the stars 
would fall from heaven. 10 This implies the 
breaking up of the present order of nature. 
In Revelation 20. 11 we have the more vivid 
description — "from whose face the earth and 
the heaven fled away ; and there was found no 
place for them." But this disturbance in 

w Matthew 24. 29; Mark 13. 24, 25, 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 251 

the universe occurs after the thousand years, 
according to this passage. If, therefore, Christ 
conies before the thousand years and, in ac- 
cordance with his own proclamation in his 
great apocalyptic discourse, there is a catastro- 
phe in the physical order at that time, we have 
two such ordeals, and between them stretch 
a thousand years. After breaking up the uni- 
versal order at his coming the world must have 
been set going again for a thousand years. 
Then it was broken up once more, and the 
platform upon which the millennium has been 
proceeding is torn to pieces a second time. 
Between these catastrophes Satan has been 
released and has been given an opportunity 
to assault the hosts of righteousness. 

How Many Judgments? 

At the conclusion of his apocalyptic dis- 
course we have Christ's wonderful picture of 
the final judgment, beginning as follows : "But 
when the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the angels with him, then shall he sit 
on the throne of his glory: and before him 
shall be gathered all the nations : and he shall 
separate them one from another, as the shep- 
herd separateth the sheep from the goats ; and 
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the 
goats on the left." He finishes this graphic 



252 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

picture by announcing that those on his left 
hand will go into everlasting punishment, 
while the righteous shall go into life eternal. 
This is the final judgment, and it is to occur 
at our Lord's second coming, as he himself 
says. 11 

Now, if that second coming is to be before 
the thousand years described in Revelation 20, 
then we must suppose that after this separa- 
tion at the judgment the wicked who have been 
given their doom assert themselves again when 
the thousand-year period has been concluded; 
for, according to this passage, a horrid crew 
as numberless as the sands of the sea comes 
out to battle against the hosts of righteous- 
ness, as described in verse 9. To say that after 
the judgment at the second coming this will 
occur, and a thousand years later, is unthink- 
able. Moreover, as recorded in verses 12 and 
15, the final judgment is to take place no one 
can tell exactly when, but at least subsequent 
to the millennium. So that we have two judg- 
ments separated by at least a thousand years. 

How Many Resurrections? 

Jesus announced that all that are in their 
graves shall one day hear his voice and shall 



11 Matthew 2$. 31-46, 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 253 

come forth ; they that have done good into the 
resurrection of life, and they that have done 
evil into the resurrection of condemnation. 
This can only refer to the final resurrection 
and judgment at his coming; but in the millen- 
nial passage we read: "And the sea gave up 
the dead that were in it ; and death and Hades 
gave up the dead that were in them : and they 
were judged every man according to their 
works. And death and Hades were cast into 
the lake of fire. This is the second death, even 
the lake of fire. And if any was not found 
written in the book of life, he was cast into the 
lake of fire." 12 Thus we have two resurrec- 
tions and judgments, separated by a thousand 
years. In the first resurrection the saints, or 
the elect known as the body of Christ, will be 
raised. Then the thousand years will pass, 
and both the good and the bad, saved and un- 
saved, who have lived and died during the 
period of the thousand years will be raised; 
and this in addition to the spiritual resurrec- 
tion referred to in John 5. 25 and Ephesians 
2. 6. Three resurrections are in utter discord 
with the plan mentioned in all other passages 
in the New Testament, and must be dismissed 
as irreconcilable with reason. 



" Revelation 20. 13-15. 



254 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Christ also announced that he would raise 
his people on the last day. 13 In order to accom- 
modate the double resurrection separated by 
a thousand years, as required by a literal in- 
terpretation of Revelation 20, we are com- 
pelled to call the whole period "the last day.'' 
That is, "the last day," which may be under- 
stood as a single period of indefinite length, 
must include the resurrection of the righteous, 
the thousand-year binding of Satan, his re- 
lease, the assault and overthrow of Gog and 
Magog, and the final judgment. Merely to 
state this dilemma is to refute the acceptance 
of this passage as literal. 

Paul speaks of the voice which will awaken 
the servants of Christ at "the last trump." 14 
But, according to the premillennial theory 
founded on this passage from Revelation 20, 
the righteous are raised before the millennium 
and the wicked after it. There are two resur- 
rections separated by a thousand years. The 
wicked are raised latest, and after the thou- 
sand-year period. Hence "the last trump" is 
for them, according to this theory, though Paul 
says the dead in Christ rise first. Therefore, 
the trump which Paul speaks of can be, not 
the last, though he says it is, but some pre- 

13 John 6. 39, 40, 44. 
14 1 Corinthians 15. 52. 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 255 

vious truinp, with a period of a thousand years 
between. 

An Irreconcilable Theory 

Without going into further details concern- 
ing the hopeless conflict between a literal in- 
terpretation of Revelation 20, and all other 
passages of the New Testament bearing on the 
question of Christ's second coming, we may 
leave the problem for those who are advocates 
of premillennialism to solve. There will be 
some who, on reading this comparison, will 
declare that in it the word of God has been 
handled deceitfully, but this will not be true. 
It may be affirmed in all solemnity, calling 
God to witness, that nothing has been done in 
this exposition but to place over against a 
literal interpretation of the passage from 
Revelation a certain number of unquestionable 
declarations from the lips of Christ himself 
and from the writings of his apostles, to show 
the utter impossibility of harmonizing the lat- 
ter with the former on the supposition that all 
parts of Scripture are equally inspired, and 
to be literally interpreted. Instead of one 
definite second coming of Christ, we have 
two separate second advents of our Lord. 
Instead of one bodily resurrection, we have 
two or more. Instead of one cataclysm in 



256 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

nature, we have two, with a thousand years 
rolling between. Instead of one final judg- 
ment, we have a variety of judgments. Of 
course this cannot be without giving up what 
Christ and his apostles have said. 

The premillennialists ask us so to twist what 
Christ and his apostles have uttered about the 
second coming as to make all the scriptures 
conform to this one obscure passage out of 
an admittedly allegorical book. Mere common 
sense would seem to dictate that if anything 
must be surrendered it is not the teaching of 
Christ and his apostles outside of this passage, 
but, rather, the one passage which cannot be 
made to fit into the others, if it is to be inter- 
preted literally. 

As a matter of fact, nothing is to be given 
up, if we apply to the Scriptures reasonable 
methods of interpretation. In the last chapter 
a view of Christ's second coming was broadly 
sketched, which is consistent with the teach- 
ings of Christ and his apostles, and in harmony 
with the figurative character of Revelation 
19-21. The details of the Apocalypse of John 
are beyond the ability of any man now living 
to interpret with fidelity to each minute and 
microscopic item. No work of a similar char- 
acter in any literature, sacred or secular, could 
be interpreted to its last infinitesimal point 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 257 

a thousand years after its author's decease, 
unless he had left a key to unlock its mys- 
terious symbolism. The vain effort to explain 
every detail in the Apocalypse of John is par- 
ticularly unprofitable, in view of the fact that 
its main purposes are as clear as the noonday 
sun. 

Further Criticisms and Objections 

In Chapter VIII the fallacy of supposing 
that the world is inevitably growing worse, 
and the church correspondingly weaker, was 
shown by an appeal to the Scriptures and the 
records of history and current life. In the 
same connection it was demonstrated that the 
function of the church is larger than merely 
to provide the medium through which the 
gospel shall be preached as a witness and a 
company of the elect gathered out of humanity, 
with whom Christ will judge the world and 
establish his kingdom on the earth. In the 
last chapter it was shown that the millennial 
era progresses from the beginning of the gospel 
dispensation to the final return of Christ to 
judgment and universally acknowledged sov- 
ereignty. In various places the follies of a 
mechanical millenarianism have been ex- 
posed. It would be useless to follow up each 
vagary about Christ's second advent which 



258 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAItf 

has appeared in print. The number is legion, 
and their influence is narrow. Certain theo- 
ries, prominent in nearly all premillennial 
teaching, however, demand brief attention, as 
illustrations of the way in which the Scrip- 
tures are misapplied, when, indeed, they are 
not supplanted by purely human inventions. 

Rapture, Tribulation, Revelation 

One of the most flagrant examples of the 
artificial, arbitrary, and fantastic manipula- 
tions of Scripture of which some premillen- 
nialists are guilty is the process by which the 
program of events connected with what are 
known as "The Rapture, "The Tribulation," 
and "The Revelation" is set forth in their 
dismal scheme. We are told that we must 
clearly distinguish between these occurrences, 
or we shall be in great difficulties. Starting 
with 1 Thessalonians, 4. 7, we are told that 
here we have the first fulfillment of the proph- 
ecy of Christ's second coming, which event is 
to be clearly separated from his actual coming 
to judge the world. What happens is that the 
saints who are alive, together with the saints 
who are dead and have been resurrected, are 
translated to meet the Lord in the air. This 
is called "The Rapture," and occurs without 
being observed by the world in general. The 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 259 

real foundation for this teaching is the passage 
just named. But to give it larger significance, 
other parts of Scripture which can be bent 
toward this event are brought in. Reliance is 
placed, for example, on Luke 21. 28, the words 
of Jesus when, after describing the signs in 
the sun, moon, and stars, and the distress of 
nations which shall come upon the world, 
together with the advent of the Son of man 
in the clouds, it is said: "But when these 
things begin to come to pass, look up, and 
lift up your heads; because your redemption 
draweth nigh." 15 This is a good example of 
the manner in which Scripture is distorted. 
The phrases "look up" and "lift up" are sup- 
posed to point to the coming of Christ in the 
air ; and the clause "your redemption draweth 
nigh" is taken to mean the first resurrection, 
and is said to be a parallel with Romans 8. 23, 
where are used the words "waiting for our 
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 
Other passages are used in like fashion, but 
there is no need to consider them, one illus- 
tration being sufficient. 

Now ensues a period of terrific suffering; 
the church, the bride of Christ, the saints, the 
elect, or by whatever term we care to designate 
the risen and glorified servants of Christ, hav- 

" Luke 21. 28. 



260 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ing been taken away from the earth. During 
this period of excessive tribulation, which is 
not of long duration, the Antichrist is re- 
vealed/ 6 the vials of God's wrath are poured 
forth, and the process of restoring Israel be- 
gins. Following this is a point of time called 
"The Revelation." This marks Christ's actual 
second coming to the earth when he appears 
to judge the quick and the dead and destroys 
the Antichrist. This dramatic series is amply 
supported by quotations from the Scriptures, 
but by such juggling of texts as one would 
think impossible on the part of a candid and 
intelligent Christian. Against such unworthy 
methods a protest was filed in Chapter I, to 
which the reader is referred. 17 There can be 
but one second coming of our Lord, and the 
simple language in which he predicted it gives 
no warrant for embellishing the event with 
artificial attachments. 

It is interesting to note why and in what 
manner this program is set up. It is asserted 
that the time of our Lord's coming to the earth 
is preceded by his coming in the air to receive 
his bride, the church, unto himself, because 
Christ has much to do with his church before 
he comes back with his church to deal with the 



16 2 Thessalonians 2. 8. 

17 See pages 11-15. 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 261 

world. This explains, it is said, what Paul 
teaches about the restraint which is placed 
upon the man of sin. 18 This restraint has 
something to do with the church. The church 
must be removed before the lawless one can 
be revealed on the earth; that is, before the 
Antichrist can stand forth in such a visible 
exhibition as to be recognized and destroyed. 

It is affirmed that the Scriptures do not any- 
where say that there will not be a considerable 
interval between the coming of Christ in the 
air and his coming with his saints to the earth, 
and, therefore, it is legitimate to assume such 
an interval, in view of what it is believed the 
church will require. Such a method of filling 
out the Bible from one's imagination is dan- 
gerous, but it is characteristic of premillen- 
nialists. Furthermore, there is nothing in the 
Scriptures to show that the coming of Christ 
to receive his saints who are caught up in the 
air to meet him will precede his coming to the 
earth to judge the quick and the dead. That 
is also a pure invention. 

Other Guesses 

"The Tribulation" is equally a matter of 
conjecture. Taking the words found in Mat- 
thew 24. 21-22; Mark 13. 24; Luke 21. 22-24, 

18 2 Thessalonians 2. 7. 



262 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

which a sound exegesis must make refer to the 
siege of Jerusalem and the scattering of the 
Jews, as the context plainly shows, and con- 
necting them up with Daniel 12. 1, a period of 
distress preceding the final judgment is satis- 
factorily arranged. 

Now, it is perfectly clear that the men 
who recorded Christ's apocalyptic discourse 
believed that the destruction of Jerusalem and 
the final judgment were practically two phases 
of one great event. According to the Gospel 
of Matthew, Christ said: "Immediately after 
the tribulation," 19 that is, after the destruction 
of Jerusalem, shall come what amounts to a 
dissolution of nature and betokens the coming 
of Christ to final judgment. In Mark's account 
we have, "In those days after that tribula- 
tion," 20 which has been previously described. 
In Luke's account, there is no note of time, 
though there is a full description of the dis- 
tress. 21 This whole tribulation, so far as it 
lay in the minds of the men who wrote the 
Gospels, is connected with the destruction of 
Jerusalem, which we are to observe was identi- 
fied in their minds with the final judgment. 
There is no warrant for placing this tribula- 



19 Matthew 24. 29. 
2° Mark 13. 24. 
2 l Luke 21. 20-24. 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 263 

tion at some remote period just preceding the 
final judgment, as premillennialists will have 
it, though it may be held that all the events at 
the destruction of Jerusalem are types of what 
will occur on a larger scale at the end of the 
age. But this is not a matter of revelation. 
The Bible is silent on it. The prophecies in 
Daniel were extant when Jesus uttered this 
apocalyptic discourse, and doubtless he knew 
precisely their meaning. Had he intended to 
make any such use of these prophecies as the 
premillennialists have adopted, he would have 
explicitly said so. And the very passage which 
is used to confirm the statement that our Lord 
had Daniel in his mind, indeed, he actually 
quoted him, 22 so unmistakably refers to the 
siege of Jerusalem that it seems singular for 
anybody to make any other interpretation. 

The reason for inserting this "Tribulation" 
as a part of the final judgment in the program 
of the premillennialists between "The Rap- 
ture" and "The Revelation," or final coming 
of Christ to judgment with his saints, is quite 
innocently given by some who advocate it. 
They say that this distinction between the two 
stages of his coming again helps to explain 
many apparent discrepancies in the Bible on 



22 Matthew 24. 15; Mark 13. 14. 



264 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

the subject of the second advent. Such a con- 
fession is amusing. The discrepancies referred 
to occur because of the unjustifiable use which 
is made of Scripture in order to fit a certain 
theory. There are no such difficulties if we 
remember that in some parts of Christ's apoc- 
alyptic discourse he was referring to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem and in other parts to 
the final judgment. 

As a matter of fact, there are no passages 
of Scripture which describe any such period 
of tribulation between Christ's coming to take 
his saints and his coming to judge the world. 
The one which is sometimes used for this pur- 
pose, Luke 21. 36, doubtless refers to the 
destruction of Jerusalem and not to the final 
judgment. It is said that the famous passage, 
2 Thessalonians 2. 7, 8, suggests that the entire 
time of "The Tribulation" is between the hour 
when Christ comes in the air for his saints and 
the hour of his return to the earth with them. 
To some minds this is probably the case. But 
to a careful student of the Bible, who has no 
theory to advance, it is difficult to discern how 
this passage hints at such a conclusion. 

We have in this disposition to invent, fab- 
ricate, or mutilate, in the process of interpret- 
ing the Scriptures, an illustration of the fact 
that in treating with premillennialists we 



MILLENNIAL FALLACIES 265 

must allow them one of three options to ex- 
plain their methods of exegesis : 

First. They deliberately handle the word of 
God deceitfully, making texts conform to a 
preconceived theory entirely apart from their 
obvious meaning. This is an accusation which 
we do not care to bring, because it is too ter- 
rible an indictment to place against any sin- 
cere followers of Christ. 

Second. Ignorance of the manner in which 
the Bible has been produced, or an utter dis- 
regard of any human elements in its structure, 
an attitude which can be taken only by people 
who are deficient in education. 

Third. The determination to hold, in spite 
of its manifest inconsistencies, the theory of 
the verbal dictation of the Scriptures, from the 
first syllable to the last. It is difficult to un- 
derstand how educated persons can adhere to 
this theory; but, as some of them do, we can 
only set it down to that strange perversity 
which even intellectual culture cannot over- 
come, and under the influence of which men 
in all ages have accepted doctrines which seem 
irrational to the majority of pious and thought- 
ful men. 



CHAPTER XI 
PROPHECY AND THE SECOND ADVENT 

It is recorded of Marcus Aurelius that he 
said, "Hope not for the Republic of Plato, but 
be content with ever so small an advance, and 
look on even that as a gain worth having." 
A similar opinion is held by many Christians 
respecting the old Hebrew prophecies of the 
final triumph of righteousness. They think it 
unwise to look for the fulfillment of these fore- 
casts. With this sentiment we cannot agree, 
but confidently expect that in due time the 
sublimest anticipations of the seers will be- 
come facts of history. 

The doctrine of the millennium, in the form 
it has taken since the Apocalypse of John was 
written, has no place in the Old Testament. 
The ancient prophets predicted a final state 
of blessedness, which they sometimes described 
as introduced by Jehovah, 1 and at other times 
as brought in by the advent of the Messiah. 2 
This era was always at the outermost range 
of their vision, which occasionally seemed to 
rest in the immediate future, while now and 

i Isaiah 40. 9-11; 52. 7-12. 

2 Isaiah 9. 6; Zechariah 9. 9, 10. 

266 



PROPHECY 267 

again it stretched away an immeasurable dis- 
tance, merging into eternity. 

As was perfectly natural, what they fore- 
told was bound up with the destiny of Israel, 
and at first the horizon of the prophets was 
rimmed by the future history of their own 
people. But gradually they came to realize 
that the Jews were to become something 
grander than masters of the world ; they were 
to be ministers of grace to the nations of the 
earth. 3 This sublime conception was not 
shared by the people as a whole; it was pos- 
sessed by only the most enlightened of their 
prophets. 

Judgment upon Israel when unfaithful to 
Jehovah, and upon all nations who refused 
obedience to him, would of necessity play a 
large part in the messages of the old prophets. 
They were practical men, and they handled 
plainly and without apology the common in- 
terests of the people and the solemn responsi- 
bilities of their leaders. They often clothed 
their messages in highly wrought apocalyptic 
speech. Their denunciations of wrong will be 
needed until the world has been cured of its 
iniquities. But to say their words are to be 
taken as literal predictions of what will hap- 

3 Isaiah 42. 1-4, 6, 7; 45. 22, 23; 60. Zephaniah 2. 11. Haggai 
2. 6, 7. 



268 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

pen at the end of the gospel dispensation is a 
misuse of the Scriptures. 

What Is Prophecy? 

The modern premillennialist takes his stand 
on the old, but now discredited, doctrine that 
"prophecy is nothing but the history of events 
before they come to pass." 4 He almost wholly 
neglects the ethical and spiritual elements of 
the prophetic messages. In his zeal for the 
literal fulfillment of predictions in their finest 
details, he apparently forgets that the prophet 
was first of all a preacher of righteousness, 
speaking primarily to his own age the truth 
which Jehovah gave him to utter. 5 He felt 
that compulsion was laid upon him. 6 Many 
of the greater prophets were writers as well 
as preachers, and their prophecies read in cer- 
tain parts like editorials on social, civic, and 
national problems. They were statesmen, deal- 
ing with all public questions from the stand- 
point of moral and religious principles. Their 
true positions cannot be understood until we 
recognize these facts. 7 



4 Butler's Analogy, Part II, Chapter VII, Section 19. 

5 Jeremiah 1. 9; Ezekiel 3. 27; Amos 7. 14, 15. 

6 Jeremiah 20. 9; Ezekiel 2. 3; Revelation 1. 11. 

7 There was no element of prediction in the prophesying des- 
cribed in Exodus 7. 1; Numbers 11. 24-29; 1 Chronicles 25. 1; 2 
Chronicles 15. 8; Proverbs 30. 1; Ezekiel 37. 9; and other similar 
passages. 



PROPHECY 269 

But while the forecasting of future events 
is by no means the whole of prophecy, it is one 
of its most characteristic features. This the 
prophets themselves affirm. 8 They name their 
ability to make true predictions the real test 
of their authority. 9 Yet they never predict 
for the mere purpose of exciting amazement. 
They always have some great moral end to 
serve. Their forecasts are bound up with 
spiritual teaching. If this fact were kept in 
mind, it would save the student of the Bible 
from exaggerating the importance of predic- 
tion in the scheme of religion. The fulfillment 
of prophetic announcements without doubt 
awakens reverence for the Scriptures, and 
gives solid ground for belief in their authen- 
ticity. But the moral and spiritual teachings 
of the Bible would be precisely what they are 
if there were not one line of prediction in the 
whole volume. We do not question the super- 
natural quality of the Old Testament fore- 
casts. They are among the most impressive 
marvels of divine inspiration. But it is easy 
to place the wrong emphasis upon them. 

Prophecy was never intended to be an 
almanac of the centuries, a dream-book for 
the telling of fortunes, an ingenious puzzle 

s Isaiah 48. 3-7. 

• Deuteronomy 18. 18-22. 



270 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

which history will solve, a labyrinth the clue 
to which must be sought through patient 
study, a veiled intimation of scientific dis- 
coveries and mechanical inventions. Yet many 
persons are eager to detect in the happenings 
of the day fulfillments of ancient prophecies, 
and profess to find automobiles and aeroplanes, 
liquid fire and poison-bombs, in the imagery 
of the ancient seers. They thus unite a freakish 
imagination with a thoroughly unwholesome 
idea of the purpose of Scripture. He who in- 
terprets prophecy after this fashion really 
makes himself the rival of the true prophet, 
and brings prediction into disrepute. Almost 
without number are the unfulfilled forecasts 
which well-meaning but misguided enthusiasts 
have based upon the Bible. Genuine prophecy 
will surely be justified by events, but the silly 
glosses of many modern interpreters are 
equally certain of discredit. 10 



10 When the Russo-Japanese War was being fought out a 
celebrated premillennialist preached a series of sermons in which 
he proved to his own satisfaction and to that of his auditors, from 
a comparison of names and other data in the ancient prophets, 
that it was foreordained that Russia should win the war and 
extend her influence over the whole empire of Japan. The 
event did not justify the prediction, but probably this did not 
at all embarrass the man who made the forecast. At this very 
moment men are writing in the periodical press to prove that 
words found in Ezekiel bear immediately upon the Russian 
problem. Others are showing that Babylon, not having been 



PEOPHECY 271 

In this connection it should be noted that 
many of the predictions of Hebrew prophecy 
are conditional — they are only to be fulfilled 
if the reasons continue which caused them to 
be proclaimed. 11 This suggests that many 
circumstances which are said to be connected 
with the return of our Lord, as is indicated by 
the predictions of the apostles, may also be 
dependent upon the course of history and the 
conduct of human beings. 

A large proportion of Old Testament pre- 
dictions, however, are unconditional. They 
are direct and unqualified announcements that 
certain things will come to pass, and it is 
matter of record that they did occur exactly 
as they were foretold. These run all the way 



entirely destroyed, according to prophecy, is as an outcome of 
this war to be rebuilt, then to become a more flourishing empire 
than in the days of its former splendor, and finally to be destroyed 
again forever in order that the exact lines of prophecy may be 
perfectly fulfilled. 

11 Jonah's prediction concerning Nineveh is an excellent illus- 
tration of this truth. We have also the express statement of 
Jehovah's attitude in this matter: "At what instant I shall speak 
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom to pluck up 
and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning 
which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the 
evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I 
shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to 
build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, 
that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, 
wherewith I said I would benefit them" (Jeremiah 18. 7-10. 
Compare Jeremiah 26. 12, 13, 17-19). 



272 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

from the experiences of individuals and minor 
events in history to the vast downfall of na- 
tions. 12 

Another significant fact about Old Testa- 
ment prediction is that the nearer the prophet 
stands to the events he is foretelling, the more 
definite are his terms of description; while in 
his forecasts of remote events, particularly 
those referring to the triumph of God's king- 
dom, his language becomes more general and 
vague, and abounds in poetic imagery. This 
is a very important truth to remember when 
one tries to interpret prophecy. 13 

The prophecies which concern us most are 
those relating to the Messiah. These follow 
a well-defined course. Having described the 
overthrow of Israel and Judah, after which 

12 Illustrations of these forecasts may be found in the announce- 
ment that fifteen years had been added to Hezekiah's life (Isaiah 
38. 5), in the predictions of Hananiah's death within a year 
(Jeremiah 28), the destruction of Sennacherib's army (Isaiah 38. 
33-35), the fate of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (Jeremiah 22. 18, 19; 
38. 14-23). Predictions of the downfall of the nations are found 
in Isaiah 6. 11-13; Jeremiah 25. 11, 12; Amos 5. 2; Micah 3. 12; 
4. 10; and elsewhere. Amos and Hosea foretell the ruin of the 
northern kingdom, Micah and Hosea the Assyrian invasion, 
Jeremiah the supremacy of the Chaldeans and the overthrow of 
Judah. What is remarkable about these predictions is that 
in several instances, as, for example, in Amos and Isaiah, the 
conditions which prevailed at the moment the propehcy was 
uttered were in no sense calculated to suggest the doleful event 
which the prophet foretold. Other specific predictions abound 
in the old prophets concerning Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, Nineveh, etc. 

* See pp. 280, 281. 



PROPHECY 273 

the restoration of the kingdom of God is pre- 
dicted, the prophets go on to herald the glories 
of a world redeemed by the Messiah and the 
final happiness of saved humanity. A remark- 
able fact connected with these prophecies is 
the rapidity with which these epochs are as- 
sumed to succeed one another, the restoration 
of the kingdom of God and the establishment 
of the period of universal peace and righteous- 
ness appearing quickly to follow the great 
catastrophe. It would seem that the eagerness 
with which the prophet looked forward to the 
day of final salvation brought the conscious- 
ness of the triumph so vividly to him that in 
writing he ignored considerations of time. 

Premillennial Peculiarities 

By far the larger bulk of Messianic pro- 
phecy is taken by premillennialists to predict 
the second advent of Christ. Several peculiari- 
ties in this process should be noticed. First, 
wherever a passage speaks in the most general 
way of the approach of Jehovah to his people 
it is appropriated as a prediction of the second 
coming of our Lord, unless it unmistakably 
signifies the first advent of the Messiah. Yet 
many of the passages thus interpreted can 
mean nothing more than that God is spirit- 



274 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ually drawing near to men. 14 Indeed, the 
premillennialist is still more arbitrary than 
this, for many passages commonly assigned 
by scholars to the first advent of Christ are 
applied by him to the second coming, for ap- 
parently no better reason than that they serve 
to strengthen his theory. 15 

The second peculiarity of the premillennial- 
ist with reference to Messianic prophecy is his 
unwillingness to admit that predictions of the 
triumph of the kingdom of God are in process 
of being fulfilled as history moves on to its 
final goal. Consequently, he assigns all the 
prophecies of Messianic conquest to a period 
following the second advent, though there is 
nothing in the terms of these predictions to 
forbid our applying them to periods preceding 
the second coming of our Lord. However, the 
premillennialist will have it that the Christ 
must appear in bodily presence on the earth 
to make his kingdom come. The prophets did 
not sav this. Our Lord's words, as we have 

«/ 7 

seen, suggest a long and continuous course for 
his kingdom before his return. Who told the 



14 Passages used after this fashion are: Deuteronomy 33. 2; 
Psalms 102. 16; Isaiah 40. 9-11; 52. 7-12. 

15 Among such passages are: Genesis 49. 14; Numbers 24. 17; 
Job 19. 25; etc. The idea that the Messiah would make two 
advents to this world probably never dawned on the mind of an 
ancient Hebrew prophet. 



PROPHECY 275 

jpremillennialist that these prophecies could 
not in large part be fulfilled before Christ's 
second advent, or that our Lord's coming again 
would not be at the climax of their fulfillment 
rather than in advance of it? If we read his- 
tory aright w r e shall see that these predictions 
have been in process of fulfillment for nearly 
two millenniums. All they signify will some 
day come to pass, but there is no warrant in 
the Scriptures for saying that Christ must 
come back to earth to force them to happen. 

There is probably no scriptural proclama- 
tion of Christ's ultimate victory which is not 
accepted as sure of fulfillment by all true 
Christians, though premillennialists speak as 
if they alone believed in these prophecies. The 
only difference is that they insist that Christ 
must return to make these predictions good. 
They seem to place no reliance on his spiritual 
influence in the world, though he distinctly 
said that his power would continue among 
men in increased demonstration after he had 
withdrawn bodily from the earth. 16 What 
right have premillennialists to ignore this 
sublime fact? Christ apparently pitched the 
whole destiny of his mission to mankind on 
the operation of spiritual forces not in the 



16 Matthew 28. 18-20. 



276 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

least dependent upon his physical presence in 
this world. 17 The prophets of old, it is ad- 
mitted, draw pictures of material conquest in 
their Messianic predictions. But this is not to 
say that physical force is to be used in securing 
a spiritual triumph, or that the consequences 
of victory are to be chiefly shown in material 
conditions. 18 When Queen Victoria of Eng- 
land laid her whole life at the feet of Christ 
did she not as truly fall down before him as 
if she had knelt in the presence of a visible 
king seated upon an ivory throne? Are not 
prophecies of the final renewal of the world 
under the lordship of the Messiah being gradu- 
ally fulfilled by the slow, steady, but certain 
swing of civilization toward the Saviour who 



1 7 See Chapter VI, pp. 129-135. 

18 The premillennialist depends on the expenditure of physical 
force to accomplish such predictions as these: 

"Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: 
All nations shall serve him" (Psalm 72. 11. Compare Zech- 
ariah 14. 9). 
"All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship 
before thee, O Lord; 
And they shall glorify thy name" (Psalm 86. 9). 
"Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, 
And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" 
(Psalm 2. 8). 
"Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall 
be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to 
establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness 
from henceforth even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts 
will perform this" (Isaiah 9. 7). 



PROPHECY 277 

promised eventually to draw all men to his 
cross? 19 

A third peculiarity of the premillennialist is 
that he makes a list of the predictions which 
he says were literally fulfilled at the period 
of Christ's first advent, and then gathers up 
all the rest of the predictions which he thinks 
refer to the triumph of the Messianic kingdom, 
and declares, "These prophecies have not yet 
been literally fulfilled. They are evidently not 
now in process of being literally fulfilled. They 
can only be so fulfilled when Christ returns 
to fulfill them himself." There are several 
indefensible assumptions here, but the one 
fundamental proposition is that all predictions 
must have literal fulfillment. This is at the 
bottom of all else that the premillennialist says 
about prophecy. By literal fulfillment he 
means that, no matter how pictorial or ex- 
travagant the language used by the prophet, 
the lines of his picture must be reproduced 
in history with exact, precise, undeviating 
fidelity to every least detail. This is a wrong 
conception of prophecy. It is unnecessary to 
a belief in the inspiration of the Bible, and, 
even if it were a true doctrine, it would not 
serve any high spiritual purpose. 

It is at this point that an important distinc- 

wjohn 12.32. 



278 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

tion should be made. We agree with all those 
who say that the prophecies are to be taken 
literally. When a prophet says Israel he 
means Israel, and when he speaks of Jerusalem 
and Judah and Zion he intends his words to 
be taken at their usual significance. When 
he mentions Edom and Egypt and Babylon 
and Moab he can only indicate the countries 
and peoples denoted by these names. It is 
foolish to substitute the church, the world, or 
any other designation, as though the former 
were symbols of the latter. We are involved 
in unending confusion if we try to allegorize 
his words. 

But there is a great difference between say- 
ing that a prophecy is to be interpreted liter- 
ally and saying that it is to be fulfilled liter- 
ally. The prophet had a burden about Judah 
or Jerusalem because he lived in relationship 
to Judah or Jerusalem. He did not prophesy 
about New York or Petrograd, because the 
farthest stretch of his imagination and the 
prof oundest reach of inspiration did not reveal 
to him that such places would ever exist. The 
structure of his prophecy was necessarily built 
out of the materials of his own day. Hence, 
when he talks about the restoration of the 
kingdom of God he thinks of it as a theocracy 
centralized in Palestine, with its capital in 



PROPHECY 279 

Jerusalem. What else could he do? These 
conditions make the outer garment of his 
prophecy, but the clothing is not of great im- 
portance. It is the idea which is of supreme 
value. When a prophecy made seven hundred 
years before Christ, under circumstances of a 
certain character, is carried over to a period 
two thousand years after Christ, under cir- 
cumstances of a totally different character, 
the idea must be retained, for that is the thing 
of chief value, but the investiture of the idea 
will necessarily be changed. Hence, while we 
may admit without reserve that the prophet 
meant literally what he said, we must also 
admit that under changed conditions the pre- 
cise thing he described is impossible of reali- 
zation. It is beyond doubt that Christ will 
conquer, that all kingdoms will be merged 
into his kingdom; but there is no necessity 
for believing that to make this kingdom pre- 
vail Christ must set up his throne in Jerusa- 
lem, and Palestine become the center of the 
world. 

Furthermore, there are passages from the 
ancient prophets which are so manifestly 
figurative that one cannot understand a mind 
which would seek to make them anything 
else; 20 and it is well known to all scholars 

20 Psalm 72. 16 ; Isaiah 2. 2 ; Ezekiel 47 ; Amos 9. 13-15 ; Joel 3. 18. 



280 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN - 

that there are others which describe the fate 
of cities and nations in terms which have never 
been accurately fulfilled in the sense of pre- 
cise and complete details. 21 It is idle to say 
they ever will be fulfilled in their exact form. 

Prophecy and Apocalypse 

One of the strangest performances of the 
premillennialist is his handling of the apoca- 
lyptic prophecies in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, 
Joel, Zechariah, and the book of Eevelation, 
"the most prominent features of which/' says 
a learned writer, "are the sudden and terrific 
appearance of the Deity to rescue his people 
in their extremity, and the immediate trans- 
formation of existing conditions for their 
benefit. 22 In times of great distress, when 

21 Isaiah 13. 16-21; Zephaniah 2. 14; and elsewhere. 

22 The essential teaching of the apocalypses is practically that 
of other prophecies, namely, that God will overthrow iniquity 
and establish righteousness, but the contrasts of judgment and 
salvation are more sharply drawn, and the forms employed are 
quite different. Paul recognizes, though he does not define, the 
distinction between ordinary prophecy and apocalypse (1 Corin- 
thians 14. 6) . While prophecy in general is a species of preach- 
ing, in which lessons from the past, the moral needs of the present 
and expectations of the future are all involved, the apocalypse is 
more distinctly a vision, usually abounding in tragic elements* 
in which the prophet is vividly conscious of a spiritual exaltation* 
which enables him to have a superior knowledge of God's plans 
for the ages and for the whole world. The prophet expresses 
this heightened intelligence in symbolisms of his own choosing 
(p. 284, footnote 33). He selects those which appear to him best 



PROPHECY 281 

the ordinary revelations of prophecy have 
ceased, men arise who frame their prophecies 
in pictorial language and with dramatic in- 
tensity. They people the world with grotesque 
figures. They uncover the abyss of the heavens. 
They handle things earthly and celestial with 
great daring. Impossibilities and incongrui- 
ties abound. To expect these figures to be 
literally fulfilled is to depart entirely from the 
spirit in which they were employed. Yet this 
is exactly what the premillennialist insists on 
doing. He cannot believe that these apoca- 
lypses are to be treated as visions. Hence he 
laboriously seeks to identify all the kingdoms 
in the book of Daniel, though the important 
teaching of that book is that all kingdoms are 
to be absorbed into Christ's kingdom. He 
puzzles out every symbolism in the book of 
Revelation, though the vital teaching of that 



suited to convey to his own generation the revelations he has 
received from Jehovah. 

Characteristic illustrations of apocalyptic prophecies are found 
in Isaiah 24 and 27 ; practically all of Ezekiel, chapters 1-32 being 
devoted to judgment and chapters 33 and 48 to rescue and 
redemption. Daniel 2. 31-45; 7; 8; 9. 24-27; 11. 2-12. 4; Joel 3. 
9-21 ; Zechariah 14, and many other places. Even the historical 
books contain the apocalyptic element, for example, 1 Kings 22. 
19-23. In the New Testament, in addition to Christ's apoc- 
alyptic discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) and the book 
of Revelation, we have an example of apocalyptic prediction in 
Paul's description of the overthrow of "the son of perdition" 
(2 Thessalonians 2. 1-10). 



282 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

work is that Christ is in process of defeating 
the devil. 

An example of this method is found in the 
premillennialist's interpretation of Zechariah 
14. He insists that this vision is to be literally 
fulfilled. We agree with him that it does not 
signify any symbolic conflict of the church 
and that it does not refer to the destruction 
of Jerusalem by Titus in A. D. 70, or to the 
assault upon the Holy City preceding the 
Babylonian captivity, or to any other event 
in the history of Israel. But we go still fur- 
ther and affirm that it does not forecast in 
detail any pivotal event of the future. 23 Un- 



23 "Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be 
divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against 
Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses 
rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth 
into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off 
from the city. Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against 
those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his 
feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is 
before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be 
cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and 
there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall 
remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south" (Zech- 
ariah 14. 1-4). v 

This is held by premillennialists to mean that after the Jews 
have been restored to Palestine, have rebuilt their temple, estab- 
lished ancient sacrifices, yielded to the Antichrist, suffered the 
terrible punishment known as "the time of Jacob's trouble," the 
Lord will suddenly come with his saints to take possession of the 
capital. They believe that every item of this prediction is to be 
literally fulfilled, laying special emphasis on the cleaving of Mount 
Olivet when Christ shall descend upon it from the clouds. 



PROPHECY 283 

doubtedly the prophet believed that the theoc- 
racy would be restored, that Jerusalem would 
be delivered from its enemies, and that a 
visible kingdom would be set up. He describes 
the destruction of those who attack Jerusalem, 
the personal deliverance executed by Jehovah, 
the perfect reconstruction of Palestine for the 
advantage of the Jews, 24 the leveling of the 
surrounding territory in order that Jerusalem 
may be elevated above all, 25 the terrible pun- 
ishment which will be meted out to those who 
have fought against Jerusalem, 26 the swarm- 

24 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters 
shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern 
sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in 
winter shall it be. And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. 
In that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one" (Zechariah 
14. 8, 9). 

28 "All the land shall be made like the Arabah, from Geba to 
Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be lifted up, and shall 
dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the 
first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel 
unto the King's winepresses" (Zechariah 14. 10. Compare 
Isaiah 2. 2; Micah 4. 1). 

26 "And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite 
all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh 
shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their 
eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall 
consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that 
day, that a great tumult from Jehovah shall be among them; and 
they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his 
hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor" (Zechariah 
14. 12, 13). 

Premillennialists rejoice in the literal interpretation of these 
verses, which they suppose signify the Armageddon referred to in 
Revelation 16. 16. Well may a premillennialist writer, who be- 



284 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ing of all nations to that city as the center 
of religious and civic authority, 27 and the 
final conquest of the world to righteousness, 
even to the complete sanctification of the com- 
mon life of the people. 28 The geographical 
descriptions and historical allusions of this 
passage show that the prophet is making a 
picture out of the materials at hand. 29 The 
stream flowing both ways out of Jerusalem, 30 
employment of the feast of tabernacles, 31 the 
reference to Egypt, 32 and other items show 
how the prophet was limited to the elements 
which others had used and which we perceive 
to be the common possession of all apocalyptic 
writers. 33 These lurid pictures attempt to 
portray the outcome of that age-long conflict 
between Jehovah and his enemies, in which 
divine intervention gives victory, of which 
there are many illustrations in the Bible, 34 

lieves in the literal fulfillment of this passage, say, "Heaven save 
us from the carnage of that day!" 

27 Verse 16. 

28 "In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, 
HOLY UNTO JEHOVAH: and the pots in Jehovah's house 
shall be like the bowls before the altar" (Zechariah 14. 20). 

2 » Zechariah 14. 4, 5, 10, 16. 

30 Joel 3. 18; Ezekiel 47. 1-12; Revelation 21. 1 to 22. 5. 

31 Verse 16. 32 Verse 18. 

88 Ezekiel borrows from Isaiah ; Zechariah and Daniel use many 
of the same figures; nearly every symbolism in Revelation was 
taken by John from an Old Testament writer. 

34 Joshua 10. 8-14; Judges 7. 15-22; 1 Samuel 14. 19-23; 
2 Chronicles 20. 15-23; and many others. 



PROPHECY 285 

and which is to result in the final overthrow 
of iniquity and the firm establishment of the 
Messianic kingdom on the earth. But the 
literal fulfillment of these predictions in 
physical terms is not to be expected. 35 

Treatment similar to that given this pas- 
sage is insisted upon with regard to all apoca- 
lyptic sections by premillennialists. The book 
of Daniel is particularly esteemed by them 
as a treasury of specific predictions bearing 
on the millennium and the second advent 
which must, in their view, be fulfilled in the 
exact form in which they are written. Per- 
sons who believe this to be the true way of 
applying such Scripture will not be convinced 
they are wrong by any argument, and the 
attempt to set them right is futile. 

Jesus made little use of such apocalyptic 
language as the ancient Hebrew prophets em- 
ployed so abundantly. Both he and his 
apostles spoke of the destiny of the righteous 
more plentifully than of the fate of the wicked. 
They proclaimed a gospel of hope, not a coun- 

35 The introduction of automobiles and aeroplanes is rapidly 
giving to the horse a very inferior place in civilized countries. 
If Zechariah's prophecy were intended for literal fulfillment, the 
legend, "Holiness unto the Lord," should have been inscribed 
on some more modern article than "bells of the horses" in the 
prophet's vision. How childish it is to overlook the glorious 
spirit of this passage in the craze for the dry and meaningless 
letter! 



286 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

sel of despair. The victory of the saints had 
larger bulk in their teachings than the defeat 
of sinners. They trusted the welfare of the 
kingdom to the working out of spiritual forces 
among men under the direction of the Lord 
of Hosts. 

A Kingdom of Material Force 

Against all this is the modern premillen- 
nialist. He has no expectation that Christ 
will win through the exercise of his spiritual 
authority and influence in the world. He be- 
lieves that when our Lord returns to set up 
his regime of universal peace and righteous- 
ness he will bring it about by the use of forces 
akin to those employed by the temporal kings 
and potentates of this world. There is not a 
hint in his interpretation of the Scriptures 
that redeeming love and divine truth are the 
instruments by which Christ is to subdue the 
world to himself. 

Furthermore, the reign of our Lord is 
described in terms which are distinctively 
material and physical. The throne of Christ 
is pictured in just such phraseology as 
would be used to portray the regal splendor 
of any earthly emperor. Associated with this 
central seat of royalty there are other thrones 
to be held by the saints who will share his 



PROPHECY 287 

authority. Preinillennialists are absolutely 
devoid of spiritual imagination. Their only 
conception of Christ's sovereignty is based on 
what they know of kings in the history of man- 
kind. No one who has read premillennial lit- 
erature can question the truthfulness of this 
statement. If premillennialists do in their 
inner thought project any spiritual ideas into 
their notion of Christ's future kingdom, they 
carefully avoid saying so in what they have 
written. One is left with the impression that 
they have a kind of lustful satisfaction in the 
thought that they are themselves to be rulers, 
conquerors, and glorious princes in the age to 
come. 

Jesus said in the plainest terms : "The king- 
dom of God cometh not with observation.'' 36 
He declared, "My kingdom is not of this 
world." 37 He affirmed, "The kingdom of God 
is within you." 38 But premillennialists say it 
is yet to come, and when it appears it will be 
a material kingdom. Because others, whom 
they call postmillennialists, believe that the 
kingdom of God is now expressing itself, 
though not completely, through the operations 
of Christianity, premillennialists say of them 



as Luke 17. 20. 

37 John 18. 36. 

3 8 Luke 17. 21. 



288 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

that thev exalt the church above Christ, while 
premillennialists exalt Christ instead of the 
church. This is as false as to charge post- 
millennialists with being atheists. They be- 
lieve that only through Christ, whose spiritual 
leadership they reverence, can the world ever 
be conquered for righteousness. In a certain 
sense the postmillennialist is no millennialist 
at all. He looks for no segregated period of 
blessedness a thousand years in length. He 
does expect a gradual triumph of truth till the 
final conquest of Christ, and he is perfectly 
convinced that when Christ does return the 
sublimest prophecies of the Old Testament 
will be gloriously fulfilled. 39 

Disappointed Zealots 

The Hebrew prophecies of the advent of the 
Messiah were not literally fulfilled in the way 
the Jews expected, and hence most of them 
rejected Christ when he appeared. Premillen- 
nialists call attention to this fact and say that 
it was not the divine plan to have all these pre- 
dictions fulfilled during the first period of 
Christ's earthly life, but that when he comes 
again he will fulfill them to the last item. His 
second advent with material power is in their 
view absolutely necessary for this very pur- 

»»See Isaiah 2. 2-5; 11. 1-9; 35; 55; 60. 



PROPHECY 289 

pose. But as the Jews rejected Christ at his 
first coming, so they say many Christians are 
now denying that a literal fulfillment of these 
aspects of Messianic prophecy should be ex- 
pected, and such persons would be inclined to 
repudiate Christ if he came in that way. 

There is a saner view than this, but it falls 
heavily upon the premillennialists. As the 
Jews were mistaken in interpreting the proph- 
ecies in literal terms, so the premillennial- 
ists may be equally wrong now in interpreting 
these prophecies with relation to the second 
coming of our Lord. There is every reason to 
assume that this is the case, since Christ 
invariably insisted on the spirituality of his 
kingdom. He refused, after certain of his 
great miracles, to allow royal honors to be 
bestowed upon him. He took every means to 
impress his disciples that he was not intend- 
ing to set up a temporal kingdom. Even at 
the last day of his earthly ministry, just be- 
fore his ascension, those disciples asked him 
when he was going to restore the kingdom 
unto Israel. They stupidly ignored all that 
he had said. They were so obsessed by the 
idea that he must establish a temporal king- 
dom that they could not put it out of their 
minds even in the sacred moment when he 
was bidding them farewell. Our Lord pro- 



290 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ceeded at once to tell them that they were 
on the wrong scent, and that they should have 
power enough when the Holy Spirit came 
upon them to indue them with energy to be- 
come witnesses for him in all parts of the 
earth. 

Premillennialists are in much the same 
state. They cannot conceive it possible that 
Christ meant exactly what he said. They are 
sure, because they insist on a literal interpre- 
tation of the ancient prophecies, that our Lord 
must set up a physical throne and sway a 
material scepter over all nations of mankind. 
We know that our Lord predicted that he 
would come to judge the world, but we also 
know that he gave no promise of any such 
thing as the premillennialists claim. They are 
just as wrong to-day as the Jews were two 
thousand years ago; and if our Lord should 
return to the earth while they are living, they 
would be as far astray as were the Jews, in- 
cluding our Lord's disciples, because he failed 
at his first coming to do that which they con- 
fidently expected him to do. 

Without Sweetness and Light 

It is no extravagance to say that there never 
was a more pronounced type of predestination 
than that involved in the theory of the elect 



PROPHECY 291 

gathered out of the world by the preaching of 
the gospel, including the complete restoration 
of Israel as a part of a program which arbi- 
trarily picks a few persons from the whole 
population of the globe to constitute the bride 
of Christ. This is predestination in a new 
form, but it is of the old essence. There is a 
smack of fatalism in it. It provokes a smile 
to observe that all premillennialists take it for 
granted that they themselves are among the 
elect. They invariably speak of the time when 
"we" shall be caught up in the air to meet the 
Lord. 

That believers constitute the body of Christ 
is a favorite thought with Paul, though he is 
the only New Testament writer who uses the 
metaphor. "We, who are many, are one body 
in Christ, and severally members one of an- 
other." 40 "For as the body is one, and hath 
many members, and all the members of the 
body, being many, are one body; so also is 
Christ." 41 Paul says God has given Christ "to 
be head over all things to the church, which 
is his bodv, the fulness of him that filleth 
all." 42 The figure used is the finest possible 



40 Romans 12. 5. See also 1 Corinthians 10. 17. 
« 1 Corinthians 12. 12. 

42 Ephesians 1. 23. See also Ephesians 4. 12; 5. 23-27; Colos- 
sians 1. 18; 2. 19; 3. 15. 



292 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

illustration of diversity in unity. It is a very 
beautiful conception. But preniillennialists, 
with their fatal disposition to take the poetry 
out of every symbolical idea, misuse this figure 
by pressing it to unreasonable lengths. They 
think of the body of Christ as in process of 
making, and say that when it is complete our 
Lord will return to take it. The only thing 
which inspires them to do missionary or evan- 
gelistic work is the thought that every true 
convert made is an addition to the body of 
Christ. Their melancholy conviction that the 
world is growing worse and the church is be- 
coming feebler does not drive them to despair, 
because the body of Christ is not the church, 
but the elect which are called out of the 
church, finally to be separated entirely from 
it. They buoy up their spirits by the thought 
that the exact number of saints to finish the 
body of Christ may be reached any hour, and 
instantly the Lord will return. Of course, 
there is no justification for such a theory out- 
side of their imagination. The body of Christ, 
the church, is not a mathematical quantity. 
It is an organism through which Christ has 
been expressing himself for centuries. The 
moment men begin to measure it they lose all 
power to understand it. Spiritual truths are 
spiritually discerned. The narrow exclusive- 



PROPHECY 293 

ness of extreme premillennialism is one of its 
worst faults. 

In such a system there is no room for ten- 
derness. The sweet and gentle spirit of Christ 
does not pervade the thought of the premillen- 
nialist. He forgets that the only class of per- 
sons Christ condemned in terms of unsparing 
denunciation were scribes and Pharisees who 
thought themselves good enough, and hence 
not in need of the repentance which Jesus 
preached or of the salvation which he came 
to provide. Against these avowedly righteous 
people, who looked with scorn upon their less 
pious fellow mortals, Jesus hurled his most 
pointed shafts of criticism. It might be well 
if premillennialists could remember this, both 
to safeguard themselves against the danger of 
Pharisaism and also to prevent them from 
looking with too great complacency on the 
awful destruction which they picture, and for 
which they feel themselves obliged to offer 
some kind of apology, lest their Lord seem to 
be a pitiless sovereign whose only purpose is 
to gain complete sovereignty over the earth at 
whatever cost. The Son of man views the lost 
world as an object of great solicitude and the 
wicked people of the earth as the victims of 
diabolical assault who ought to be rescued by 
every persuasive appeal which can be made 



294 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

from the terrible consequences of their alien- 
ation from God. This is apparently not the 
feeling of the premillennialist. He is con- 
vinced that the vast majority of mankind liv- 
ing and dead will be swept into perdition. It 
is enough for him to look upon that destruc- 
tion as inevitable and to thank God for his 
own deliverance and the deliverance of the 
other elect from the frightful tragedy. When 
he is told that such a view of God does the 
everlasting Father an injustice, and is calcu- 
lated to make men still more rebellious against 
the divine authority, and thus increase the 
wickedness of the world, his reply is that 
death has been sweeping off the planet an 
entire world population every thirty-three 
years. He says the world is in the hands of 
the devil, who has the power of death, and 
that Satan has slain the world more than fifty 
times in the present dispensation. The in- 
ference is that very few of the uncounted 
millions who sleep in their graves have had 
any opportunity to be saved, the majority 
never having even heard of Christ. The argu- 
ment is — if this is the case, why perplex your 
soul about additional millions? This is such 
a dismal, dark, and unchristian view of the 
good and great God that it is more likely to 
make infidels of men than to induce them to 



PROPHECY 295 

turn from their sins to the Saviour of the 
world. 

Jewish State and Hebrew Religion 

Not only is premillennialism unspiritual 
and unchristian in the senses described in the 
foregoing pages, but it is also distinctively 
Jewish in all its characteristics. In the first 
place, there is no possibility of constructing 
such a millennium as is imagined without tak- 
ing the traditional views held by the Hebrew 
people between the period when inspired 
prophecy closed and the period when Christ 
was born upon the earth. We have elsewhere 
sketched these views and need not here repeat 
them. But it is only by combining these with 
the famous passage in Revelation 20 that the 
premillennial theory could have been formu- 
lated. 

It is perfectly natural that with such a view 
of the meaning of the Old Testament prophe- 
cies the premillennialists should look for the 
reestablishment of a distinctly Jewish king- 
dom under the sovereignty of the Messianic 
Prince. We find that many of this cult are 
actually looking not only for the restoration 
of the Jews to Palestine, but the actual setting 
up again of the Hebrew state, accompanied 
with all the splendors and pomp of the days 



296 WHEN CHKIST COMES AGAIN 

of Solomon, and, indeed, a greater glory than 
existed in the golden era of his reign. They 
are counting on Jerusalem as the capital of 
the world, to which all nations shall bow in 
subserviency. They even predict the restora- 
tion of the Jewish religion with the ceremonial 
observance of its ritual worship. This is to be 
glorified and transfigured in some spiritual 
way; nevertheless it is to be a perpetuation 
on a loftier plane of that old covenant which 
Jesus Christ himself said he had come to annul 
and which the early apostles struggled so 
valiantly to remove from the thought of their 
Jewish converts. It is difficult to understand 
how people, reading the Acts of the Apostles, 
in which the contention with Judaizers and 
Hebrew spoilers of the gospel was so sharp 
and continuous, can dream that the thing 
which was so bitterly opposed in the first 
century should at last, under divine authority, 
be restored at the time of Christ's coming 
again to the earth. 

It follows from all this that Christianity is 
not the final religion, as we have been taught 
to believe. Another is coming, a kind of glori- 
fied Judaism, to take its place. If the premil- 
lennialists looked forward to the time when 
the Christian religion, as we now understand 
it, should be developed into an even nobler 



PEOPHECY 297 

expression of the life of God in the souls of 
men, one might stretch himself out toward it 
as a blessed speculation, even if one thought 
it a visionary and unlikely thing. Christ inti- 
mated that there was much truth yet to be 
developed, and that the spirit of the Lord 
would lead believers into that truth, and the 
apostles who immediately followed him spoke 
in much the same strain. We may expect that 
Christianity has not attained its ultimate 
form, and so far would not find ourselves in 
disagreement with those who conceive a better 
institution than the organized Christianity of 
our day. But this is quite different from a 
return to an obsolete form of religion. Such 
a reaction would be contrary to all the prin- 
ciples of development. We always acknowl- 
edge our debt to Greece and Kome, to Assyria 
and Babylon, but we do not feel that we are 
making any advance if we return to forms of 
civilization or expressions of religion which 
have their source and significance in an 
ancient civilization. To assume that Divine 
Providence gave to us in the history of the 
Hebrew people the norm of ultimate national 
and religious life is not only without founda- 
tion in the Scriptures, but is also foreign to 
any rational conception of the meaning of 
history, and the slow but steady development 






298 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

of human institutions, to say nothing of the 
divine ideals which have been given to us by 
revelation. 

Shall We Try to Save the World . 

It is fatal to the whole scheme of the premil- 
lennialist that, having an unspiritual pro- 
gram, the advocates of this theory should not 
expect to have any profound influence in bet- 
tering the world. They do not regard it as 
their business to pervade society with whole- 
some and corrective influences. It is their 
function only to help gather out of the world 
the small body of the elect who shall be con- 
stituted the Bride of Christ. The only support 
they seem to have for such a theory is found 
in an incidental allusion to the prophecy of 
Amos in a speech made by James at the Coun- 
cil of Jerusalem, to which we have referred 
in detail elsewhere. 43 It does not offset the 
depressing effect of this theory to say that 
many premillennialists are devout people, in- 
terested in the work of foreign missions and 
the evangelization of their own country. How- 
ever industriously they may pursue this work, 
and however sincerely they may seek to add 
to the body of Christ the few who are to be 
saved out of the great mass, the diffusion of 

«Pp. 172-174; 326,327. 



PROPHECY 299 

the doctrine that the world is not to be saved 
until after it has once more been destroyed is 
certain to discourage the whole great effort of 
Christendom to raise the world out of dark- 
ness into light. 

We may now sum up our objections to the 
extreme premillennial scheme as follows: 

1. It is unscriptural, judged by any sound 
method of biblical interpretation, and is in 
hopeless conflict with passages from the Gos- 
pels and Epistles, the meaning of which is 
scarcely in dispute. 44 

2. It is artificial, being constructed of many 
unrelated passages taken arbitrarily from 
various parts of the Bible and cemented to- 
gether by the ingenuity of men who take more 
delight in such feats of skill than in the expo- 
sition of spiritual truth. 

3. It is unreasonable; that is, it runs con- 
trary to the observed facts of history, the 
current life of Christendom, and the law of 
development which prevails everywhere in the 
universe as we know it. 

4. It discredits the work of the Holy Spirit 
in the present dispensation of grace. 45 

** See pp. 245-51. 

46 This premillennialists vehemently deny, but do not disprove; 
for they constantly declare that the main function of the Holy 
Spirit is to gather out of the world the elect, the body of Christ, 
the bride of the Lord. When this has been done Christ, they 



300 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

5. It is Jewish rather than Christian. 

6. It is materialistic rather than spiritual. 

7. It is pessimistic rather than hopeful. 

8. It is destructive, if consistently followed, 
of all social, civic, industrial, political, and 
moral reforms. 

An artist and his wife came back from Paris 
a few months after their marriage to look for 
a place in New York where they could start 
housekeeping. They were not satisfied with 
an apartment. They desired a home of their 
own. They found a building which had once 
been a stable and was at that time being used 
as a factory and storeroom. This they leased, 
removed its rubbish and built in partitions, 
stairways, windows, doors, fireplaces, and 
other improvements. They beautified the win- 
dows and doors with some stained glass rem- 
nants which had been left in the old building, 
and soon had one of the cosiest and most 
artistic homes in the whole city. It was their 
spirit which transformed the stable into a 
delightful dwelling place. So it is that the 
life of God in the soul of man will transfigure 
any environment. The Christian religion is 
doing that for the world. Little by little it 



say, will return to finish the work which the Holy Spirit is not 
qualified to perform, that is, the bringing in of righteousness 
and peace upon the whole earth. 



PROPHECY 301 

drives out ugliness and discord, and puts 
in beauty and harmony. The old Hebrew 
prophets looked for no setback in the program 
of general deliverance and development. They 
plainly expected that the movement of the 
centuries would proceed until the world was 
redeemed, even physical nature being trans- 
formed and human society reshaped until uni- 
versal peace and righteousness should prevail. 
This hope they transmitted to subsequent 
generations. Christ came to certify the cor- 
rectness of their expectations, to intensify the 
longing of humanity for the fulfillment of 
their prophecies, and to put into operation 
forces which in the fullness of time will bring 
to pass all that was predicted. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 

"We are fallen among the enemy and are 
lost!" cried some Greek troops of the olden 
time to their commander, as they saw his army 
entirely surrounded and attacked from every 
side. 

"How are we fallen among the enemy any 
more than the enemy is fallen among us?" 
replied the general. 

Such is the militant spirit of those Chris- 
tians who refuse to be stricken with panic on 
account of the turbulence of our times, by 
which less valorous souls are provoked to 
despair, or led to conclude that the Christian 
dispensation is about to come to an inglorious 
end, or to confess that Christian civilization 
has gone into permanent bankruptcy. 

All over our country and in foreign parts 
men are pointing to the world war as an un- 
mistakable sign of the end of the age and a 
clear intimation that the return of Christ to 
judge the world is near. But every war has 
been taken by some persons as a fulfillment 
of prophecy since the day in which Jesus said : 

302 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 303 

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of 
wars; see that ye be not troubled: for these 
things must needs come to pass; and the end 
is not yet. For nation shall rise against na- 
tion, and kingdom against kingdom ; and there 
shall be famines and earthquakes in divers 
places. But all these things are the beginning 
of travail." 1 Many are now saying that the 
present war is the conflict which marks the 
end of the age. Some predicted that it would 
cease on February 1, 1918, basing their confi- 
dence on passages which any intelligent stu- 
dent of the Bible ought to know cannot refer 
to this struggle. 2 An evangelist gained no- 
toriety and endangered his personal safety by 
declaring it to be folly for the young men of 
the United States to enter the army, because 
the world would come to an end before the 
war itself was finished. Many are regarding 
the present conflict as the Armageddon re- 
ferred to by the writer of the Apocalypse. 3 
Old Testament prophecies not less than New 
Testament forecasts have been made to signify 
the terrible catastrophe now devastating 
Europe. 

Now, the prophets of the Old Testament in 



1 Matthew 24. 6-8. Compare Mark 13. 7, 8; Luke 24. 9-11. 

2 Daniel 7. 25; 12. 7; Revelation 11. 2, 3; 12. 6, 14; 13. 5. 

3 Revelation 16. 16. 



304 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

several instances predict wars, and that with 
some degree of particularity, and these predic- 
tions are connected with what is known as "the 
day of Jehovah/' into the meaning of which 
designation we shall now inquire. 

"The Day of the Lord" 

The phrase "the day of Jehovah" is found 
so frequently in the old prophecies, and is 
used under circumstances of such a nature, 
that even a casual reader must be convinced 
that it has some deep significance. 4 It does 
not mean a date in the calendar, but, rather, 
the opening of an epoch in which an episode 
is frequently given as the point of departure. 
The phrase is first met in the prophecy of 
Amos, who flourished about B. C. 760. "Woe 
unto you that desire the day of Jehovah ! 
Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? 
It is darkness, and not light. As if a man did 

* Isaiah 2. 12; 13. 6, 9, 13. 

Jeremiah 46. 10. 

Ezekiel 13. 5; 30. 3. 

Joell. 15; 2. 1,2, 11,31; 3. 14. 

Amos 5. 18-20. 

Obadiah 15. 

Zephaniah 1. 7, 14. 

Zechariah 14. 1. 

Malachi 3. 2. 

Equivalent phrases, descriptive in character, are also found. 
See Isaiah 34. 8; 61. 2; Jeremiah 30. 7; Ezekiel 7. 19; Lamen- 
tations 2. 22; Zephaniah 2. 2, 3; Malachi 4. 5. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 305 

flee from a lion, and a bear met him ; or went 
into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, 
and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of 
Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very 
dark, and no brightness in it?" 5 It is clear 
that in this passage Amos refers to the day of 
judgment upon Israel, which he speaks of as 
if it were immediately at hand. Assyria is 
doubtless the power by which divine justice 
is to be meted out, though it is not named. 

In this earliest use of the phrase we have 
the key to its primary meaning, and an ex- 
amination of the numerous passages in which 
it occurs will show that this meaning is car- 
ried down through all the later prophets. It 
always signifies a time of judgment in which 
righteousness will triumph. But a difference 
in the objects of divine punishment must be 
noted. Though the earliest conceptions of the 
Hebrews may have carried chiefly the idea 
of punishment for the enemies of Israel, it is 
very clear that with those prophets whose mes- 
sages were committed to writing the proclama- 
tion of judgment referred primarily to Israel, 
though it might by implication embrace other 
nations. 6 Among the prophets next in order 
of time punishment for the enemies of the 



5 Amos 5. 18-20. 

6 Amos 2. 1-3; 3. 9-15; Hosea 4. 1-6; Zephaniah 3. 1-13. 



306 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Hebrew nation was definitely pronounced, 7 
while among the latest prophets the predic- 
tions included the punishment of the whole 
wicked world. 8 The character of "the day of 
Jehovah" is shown by the terms of description 
used. It is Joel who cries, "Alas, the day of 
Jehovah," and again, "the great and the ter- 
rible day." 9 Jeremiah calls it "the time of 
Jacob's trouble." 10 Zephaniah and others de- 
scribe it as being attended by convulsions in 
nature. 11 

It must be noticed also that the predictions 
of judgment are usually based on some current 
national calamity or on one which the prophets 
saw in the immediate foreground of their 
times. Amos is dealing with the judgment 
which is to come upon Israel through the 
assaults of her enemies. 12 Joel draws a won- 
derfully graphic picture of the plague of lo- 
custs sweeping over the land, and proceeds to 
summon the Jews to repentance and devo- 
tion to God for the purpose of beating back 
their enemies. 13 Isaiah arraigns the king of 

7 Haggai 2. 22; Zechariah 1 to 8. 

8 Daniel 7. 21-27; Malachi 3. 2-15. 

9 Joel 1. 15; 2. 31. 
™ Jeremiah 30. 7. 

" Zephaniah 1. 14-16; Isaiah 13. 10; 34. 4; Ezekiel 32. 7, 8; 
Amos 9. 13; Joel 2. 30, 31. 

12 Amos 5 to 7. 

13 Joel 2. 3-11. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 307 

Babylon and predicts the overthrow of his 
empire. 14 

But while these proclamations of "the day 
of Jehovah" take their origin in current events 
and prospective disasters, yet the prophets 
look forward to the day of final judgment. 
Usually they seem to think this will at once 
follow the calamity which they see at hand, 
but as thousands of years have swept away 
since these prophecies were delivered and the 
final judgment did not follow these events 
or any others of like character which have 
since occurred, it is inevitable that we should 
extend these prophecies to a point yet distant. 
Hence, "the day of Jehovah," as used in the 
Old Testament Scriptures, may be interpreted 
as having this double significance: It is the 
final judgment and it is also every other day 
of judgment, from the age in which a particu- 
lar prophecy was written down to the final 
day of judgment, whenever it may appear. 

But "the day of Jehovah" was not only the 
day of judgment. It was also the day of de- 
liverance. In the popular mind it meant the 
day when Jehovah would interpose in behalf 
of his people to deliver them from both internal 
and external miseries. While the first purpose 
of "the day of Jehovah" was to clear away the 

M Isaiah 13. 6-22. 



308 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

sins of Israel and then to punish the foes of 
God's people, it was also for the purpose of 
redeeming Israel from destruction. Hence, it 
became a day of rejoicing. 15 It is very im- 
portant to keep in mind that "the day of Je- 
hovah" is both a time of terror for evildoers 
and also a time of great joy for the righteous. 
When we come down to the New Testament 
times we find the phrase is still used, but the 
Christian writers have somewhat altered its 
form. It is no longer "the day of Jehovah," 
but "the day of the Lord," "the day of Christ," 
"the day of Jesus Christ," "the day of our Lord 
Jesus," "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
This new phrasing is much used by Paul and 
at least once by Peter. 16 An examination of 
these passages will show that the expressions 
mean the time of Christ's return, and they con- 
vey the same ideas that are found in the Old 
Testament prophecies. Just as ancient Israel 
looked forward to "the day of Jehovah" as a 
time when God would punish the wicked and 
rescue the righteous, so these Christians looked 



15 Habakkuk 3; Obadiah 17-21. 
16 1 Corinthians 1. 8; 5. 5. 

2 Corinthians 1. 14. 

Philippians 1. 6, 10; 2. 16. 

1 Thessalonians 5. 2. 

2 Thessalonians 2. 2. 
2 Peter 3. 10. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 309 

forward to Christ's return as a time when he 
would judge the world and save the faithful. 
These ideas are retained by the Christians 
of our day. Just as the old prophets saw "the 
day of Jehovah" in the calamities which over- 
took the world, so ever since Christ left the 
earth many persons have fancied they saw "the 
day of the Lord" or "the day of Christ" in 
the catastrophes of their time. It is common 
for men to say when any great distress, like 
famine, or earthquake, or terrible war occurs, 
that perhaps the end of the world or the day 
of judgment is approaching. Whatever one 
may think of the wisdom or folly of such ut- 
terances, they at least show that the conviction 
is native to the souls of men that a day of 
judgment is impending. What is greatly to 
be desired is that they shall also realize that 
"the day of Christ," that is, the time of his 
return to the earth, will be a time of redemp- 
tion, of deliverance, of salvation, and hence, 
a time of great rejoicing, the brightness of 
which for the righteous will far surpass any 
gloom which it may have for the impenitent. 

"The Great Tribulation" 

Have we reached "the day of Jehovah," the 
beginning of God's final judgment on the na- 
tions? Many persons are affirming this. They 



310 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

declare that we are now in the last phase of 
human history and of the Gospel dispensation, 
and that this war is a clear evidence of this 
fact. The reasons given for this conviction are 
many and various, and to these we now give 
attention. Those who hold that this is the 
beginning of "the day of Jehovah" argue first 
from the fact that this is the most colossal 
war the world has ever known. Never before 
were so many millions of men under arms, so 
many killed in battles, or so many confined 
in prisons and in hospitals. Never were such 
vast sums of money expended upon warfare, 
or so many nations involved at one time in 
martial encounters. Never were the atrocities 
of war so horribly displayed. Some who view 
these conditions with their minds upon the 
prophecies declare that the end of the age is 
at hand. Certain passages of Scripture are 
used to confirm this opinion, and these may 
be appropriately grouped together before their 
significance is examined : 

"Alas! for that day is great, so that none 
is like it : it is even the time of Jacob's trouble ; 
but he shall be saved out of it." 1T 

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, 
the great prince who standeth for the children 
of thy people; and there shall be a time of 

17 Jeremiah 30. 7. Compare Zephaniah 1. 15-18. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 311 

trouble, such as never was since there was a 
nation even to that same time : and at that time 
thy people shall be delivered, every one that 
shall be found written in the book." 18 

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as 
hath not been from the beginning of the world 
until now, no, nor ever shall be. And except 
those days had been shortened, no flesh would 
have been saved : but for the elect's sake those 
days shall be shortened/' 19 

"These are they that come out of the great 
tribulation, and they washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 20 

The last of these passages is held by some 
students of the Bible to designate the saints 
who still survive the ordeal, worse than the 
world has ever known, referred to in the pre- 
ceding passages. This "great tribulation" is 
set down for the end of the gospel age, and, 
since these are the most troublous times the 
world has ever known, it is claimed that we 
must now be entering the final period of judg- 
ment on the nations. 

It must be remembered, however, that 
though the prophets in making their forecasts 
projected their thought far over the long fu- 



w Daniel 12. 1. 

19 Matthew 24. 21, 22. Compare Mark 13. 19, 20. 

20 Revelation 7. 14. 



312 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ture, yet the form of their predictions was 
invariably suggested by something in the im- 
mediate foreground of their times. This is the 
case in each of the instances just quoted. 

Jeremiah, for example, is speaking primar- 
ily of the fall of Babylon, which he describes 
as affecting even the people of Israel, as was 
indeed the case. The phrase "that day" re- 
fers, of course, to "the day of Jehovah," and 
the passage can only mean that the visitation 
of judgment shall be one of distress even to 
Jacob, not that the whole weight of the dis- 
aster shall fall upon the people of Israel. 

Daniel's vision primarily refers to the period 
of Antiochus Epiphanes, who persecuted the 
Jews in the second century before Christ. In 
the seventh and eleventh chapters of the book 
of Daniel we have a description of the charac- 
ter and reign of the tyrant. At the beginning 
of the twelfth chapter we have a prediction of 
the terrible disaster to Palestine accompany- 
ing it. History has confirmed it all. 21 But 



21 "It was after completing his conquest of Egypt that An- 
tiochus, in pursuit at once of his political and religious ambition, 
seized upon Jerusalem. The terrified population fled before him. 
They were hewn down in the streets; they were pursued to the 
roofs of their houses. But that which even more than this wide- 
spread massacre thrilled the city with consternation was the 
sight of the king, in all the pomp of royalty, led by the apostate 
Menelaus into the sanctuary itself. . . . With characteristic ra- 
pacity he laid hands on the sacred furniture which the wealthy 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 313 

beyond the fall of Antiochus the prophet saw 
the coming of the Messiah and the setting up 
of the kingdom of God on earth. This he ap- 
parently believed would come immediately 
after the overthrow of the despot. But the 
perspective of his picture was too much fore- 
shortened, as we now know. 

In our Lord's prediction on the Mount of 
Olives at the close of his public ministry he 
primarily referred to the destruction of Je- 

Babylonian Jews had contributed through the hands of Ezra — 
the golden altar of incense, the golden candlestick, the table of 
consecrated bread, and all the lesser ornaments and utensils. 
. . . The walls that Nehemiah had built with so much care were 
dismantled; the houses in their neighborhood were burnt; an- 
other massacre and another captivity followed. The blood ran 
through the streets and even in the Temple courts. ... In every 
town and village of the country were erected altars, at which the 
inhabitants were compelled to offer sacrifices in the heathen form 
and on the king's birthday to join in the sacrificial feast. . . . 
And at last the crowning misery of all, which sent a shock through 
the whole community, was the deliberate desecration of the Tem- 
ple, not only by adapting it to Grecian worship, but by every 
species of outrage and dishonor. . . . Its smooth and well-kept 
courts were left to be overgrown by rank vegetation, in the shelter 
of which, as in the groves of Daphne, the licentious rites of An- 
tioch were carried on. . . . The profanation was consummated 
by introducing a herd of swine and slaughtering them in the 
sacred precincts. One huge sow was chosen from the rest. Her 
blood was poured on the altar before the Temple and on the Holy 
of Holies within. A mess of broth was prepared from the flesh 
and sprinkled on the copies of the Law. This was the 'abomina- 
tion of desolation' — the horror which made the whole place a 
desert. From that moment the daily offerings ceased, the per- 
petual light of the great candlestick was extinguished — the faith- 
ful Israelites fled from the precincts" (Stanley, History of the 
Jewish Church, vol. iii, pp. 326-331). 



314 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

rusalem. That is what his disciples who re- 
ported his discourse believed, and we know 
that the event which he foretold a whole gen- 
eration before it occurred was attended by the 
most frightful sufferings. 22 Surely, this was 
such a time of trouble as had not been hitherto 
experienced. Those who listened to Christ's 
discourse believed that it would be followed 
by his return to judge the world. This did not 
occur, and again the prediction was in the 
thought of men extended to reach the day of 
final judgment, however remote that might be. 

As for "the great tribulation" mentioned 
by the apostle John, it is generally admitted 
that this catastrophe was fittingly symbolized 
by the persecutions of the Christians in the 
Roman Empire under Nero, or possibly under 
Domitian. These sufferings have been so fre- 
quently described by historians that they re- 
quire no description here. 23 Surely, this was 
a period of distress so terrible that nothing 
equal to it had hitherto visited the world. But 
we now know that it was not the final catas- 
trophe which was to precede the return of 
Christ to judgment. 

At present we are in a war which all agree 



22 See pages 62-64. 

23 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. ii» 
chap, xvi, or any authentic history of Rome. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 315 

is in many of its aspects the most terrible hu- 
manity has ever known. But we must be 
cautious in assuming that it marks the end 
of the age. Eemembering that the overthrow 
of Babylon with the restoration of the Jews 
to Palestine and the frightfulness and failure 
of the reign of Antiochus did not mean that the 
final judgment was at hand; that the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem did not mean that the return 
of Christ to the earth would be immediate ; that 
the persecutions under Nero did not mean the 
end of the Christian dispensation, we should 
be hesitant to declare that we have now at- 
tained the hour of supreme trial. This is the 
most colossal war in history, but we do not 
know that it is the superlative degree of 
iniquity. We cannot say with certainty that 
more terrible wars will not break out in the 
future. It seemed impossible to many that 
this one should occur, but it has happened. 
This fact should teach us to avoid saying that 
anything worse is impossible. 

Misapplications of Scripture 

But it is affirmed that there are other cur- 
rent conditions which conform to lines of 
prophecy. The following passage is quoted 
as applying to our times: "When they are 
saying Peace and safety, then sudden destruc- 



316 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

tion cometh upon them, as travail upon a 
woman with child; and they shall in no wise 
escape." 24 Attention is called to the fact that 
this exactly describes the condition which pre- 
vailed at the outbreak of this war. For many 
years preceding it strong efforts had been made 
for the establishment of peace. The Hague 
Tribunal had been in operation for some time. 
Peace conferences of various sorts had been 
held. A peace palace had been erected, and at 
the very moment of the outbreak of the war a 
peace congress was gathering at Constance. 
At the instant of sudden alarm men were calcu- 
lating upon international peace as though it 
were in their possession. So accurately did 
this Scripture have its fulfillment. 

This is not quite a fair statement, since the 
peace congresses were not for the celebration 
of a peace which men fondly dreamed was in 
existence, but for the purpose of preventing, 
if possible, what observant people clearly saw 
was impending. For no less than a quarter 
of a century men had predicted that, since 
Europe was an armed camp, it was only a ques- 
tion of time when hostilities would break out 
in great fury. 25 It is true that many people 

24 1 Thessalonians 5. 3. 

25 According to newspaper reports in January, 1889, more than 
twenty-five years before the outbreak of actual hostilities, Lord 
Wolseley said: "Those who study the map of Europe must be- 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 317 

in England and America ridiculed the possi- 
bility of war. But it is also true that many 
judicious persons were admonishing the Eng- 
lish and American people that they were rest- 
ing in a false security. 

A similar condition of things prevailed in 
the United States preceding the Civil War. 
William H. Seward had said, what many 
thoughtful people believed, that the contest 
with slavery was an "irrepressible conflict.'' 
But easy-going persons were inclined to hush 
the spirit of alarm, and even when the firing 
upon Fort Sumter made certain that the hour 
of conflict was at hand there were short-sighted 
persons who were saying that it was but a 
flurry and would be over in thirty days. 

Similar conditions have existed many times 
in the history of nations, and in each instance 
the passage we are considering might have 
been applied with equal appropriateness. It is 
one of those general statements which can be 
applied to a great variety of events, but which, 
in the place where Paul used it, had a specific 
application to the second coming of our Lord. 
The apostle recalled the words uttered by 

lieve that there is hanging over us a warcloud greater than any 
which has hung over Europe before. It means when it bursts — 
and burst it surely will, as surely as the sun shines to-morrow — it 
means a war of extinction, of devastation between great armed 
nations whose populations are armed and trained to fight." 



318 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Jesus concerning the suddenness arid un- 
expectedness of his return. 26 

Another passage of Scripture which it is 
claimed was written to characterize the pres- 
ent crisis is taken from the Book of Daniel, 
and reads: "Many shall run to and fro, and 
knowledge shall be increased." 27 This war 
occurs at a time of unexampled intercourse 
between the populations of the globe through 
travel and of extraordinary intellectual ac- 
tivity. Is this a sign that the end of the age 
is at hand and that Christ's return is near? 

The situation is well understood by all who 
have their eyes open. The old-fashioned stage- 
coach days are gone. Palatial trains of 
chariots, finer than any Caesar ever saw, con- 
vey people over vast distances. Slow sailing 
ships, subject to the caprice of the winds, have 
been displaced by mighty steamships that are 
defiant of storm or calm, of wind or tide. In 
place of lumbering carriages we have auto- 
mobiles that rush like comets, and instead of 
depending on the earth's surface for our plane 
of locomotion, we have aeroplanes that cover 
one hundred and fifty miles an hour. No in- 
crease in rapidity or method of travel aston- 

26 Matthew 24. 36-42. 

Mark 13. 32-37. 

Luke 21. 34-36. 
* Daniel 12. 4. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 319 

ishes us. We should not be amazed if vehicles 
were invented to-morrow which would in turn 
run on the earth, swim in the sea, or sweep 
through the air, with equal facility, and in 
immediate response to the will of the pilot. 
Soon no place on the globe will be free from the 
peering eyes of those who run to and fro in 
the earth. 

As to the diffusion of knowledge, we know 
that learning is no longer tediously trans- 
mitted by a few manuscripts passed from hand 
to hand. Books are multiplied by millions. 
No longer does the schoolmaster gather little 
groups about him for instruction, but great 
educational systems with millions of students 
and innumerable institutions of higher learn- 
ing furnish opportunity for acquisitions un- 
known to any previous age. No longer are the 
events of narrow circles of men reported by 
slow processes from one individual to another, 
but each morning the happenings of the world 
are displayed on every breakfast table by 
means of the daily press. We have harnessed 
the forces of nature, learned the secrets of the 
sky, and made ourselves the masters God in- 
tended us to be, and the end is not yet. 28 

It is held by some that these very facts 
indicate that the end of the age is drawing 

28 Psalm 8. 6-9. 



320 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

nigh. But certain qualifying statements need 
to be made. The passage itself will bear a 
different rendering than is usually given to 
it. Some scholars insist that the words are 
not properly translated in our English ver- 
sions. They claim that what is meant, if the 
original is accurately rendered, is that in the 
time of Antiochus Epiphanes, of which Daniel 
is undoubtedly speaking, many will go search- 
ing through the book he has written to ascer- 
tain how God's great purposes for his kingdom 
will be secured. If this is the correct interpre- 
tation, then this passage does not apply in the 
manner claimed. 

But whatever may be the immediate ref- 
erence, even if we agree that its ordinary 
rendering is adequate, it still could be applied 
to many other epochs in the world's history 
when travel increased and knowledge was 
multiplied. Take a single example — the end 
of the fifteenth century and the beginning of 
the sixteenth century. The Crusaders, who 
in previous centuries had gone out to wrest 
the sepulcher of Christ from the Turks, had 
gradually increased the interest of Europe in 
lands that were distant. Commerce had been 
extended to the East. Ships were gradually 
improved. The mariner's compass had been 
discovered, and by its aid longer voyages could 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 321 

be taken. The invention of gunpowder had 
changed the character of war. The Moors had 
been driven out of Spain. Great explorations 
occurred during the period to which we refer. 
Columbus had sailed to the western world. 
Spain had conquered Mexico and Peru. The 
Portuguese had settled in Brazil. Sebastian 
Cabot had sailed from England to America. 
DaGama had doubled the Cape of Good Hope. 
Ferdinand Magellan had circumnavigated the 
globe. Swiftly men had run to and fro over 
the earth. 

All this was accompanied by an unusual fer- 
mentation in the minds of men. Great things 
were being expected. With the fall of Con- 
stantinople there had occurred a revival of 
learning. Driven from the East, learned Jews 
and Greeks came to live in Italy. Greek and 
Hebrew were studied once more. The litera- 
ture and art of Greece and Rome flourished. 
Poets, painters, sculptors, and historians 
sprang up. Above all, the invention of print- 
ing came just in time to float everywhere the 
new learning and the stirring ideas of men. 
Surely, knowledge was being increased in the 
earth. 

What is more to the purpose is the fact that 
this increase of travel and of knowledge, which 
really betokened a new era in the history of 



322 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

mankind, was held by many then to forecast 
the end of the age. The notion that Christ 
would return to judgment was widely preva- 
lent. Even Martin Luther, "dreading lest the 
end of the world should arrive before he had 
translated the Bible, published the prophecies 
of Daniel separately/' in order that these pre- 
dictions might be before the minds of the 
people, saying that the book was "a work for 
these latter times. 29 

From these instances, and others which 
might be named, it seems evident that there 
is no more reason to say now than at any 
previous time that increased travel and knowl- 
edge point to the end of the age, nor can any 
man safely predict to what larger ranges, both 
of travel and knowledge, succeeding genera- 
tions will attain. 

The Restoration of the Jews 

This war burst forth at a time when the 
Jews were showing a new interest in Palestine 
and were going in large numbers to the land 
of their ancestors. Now, the return of the 
Jews to the Holy Land is a subject of proph- 
ecy, and is by some regarded as an event con- 
nected with Christ's second advent. Is the 
present migration of Jews to Palestine a sign 

29 D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation, book xiv. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 323 

that Christ's return is near? Will this war, 
in which it is predicted the Turkish Empire 
will be dismembered, result in giving the con- 
trol of Palestine to the Jews, 30 and, if so, will 
this occupation be the prophesied restoration, 
and will it foretoken the end of the age and the 
second advent of Christ? To answer these 
questions one needs to refer to the greatest of 
all prophets, Jesus of Nazareth. This is what 
he predicted in his Apocalyptic discourse con- 
cerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
final judgment of the world : "And they shall 

30 Until the British occupation of Jerusalem in December, 1917, 
Palestine had been under Turkish rule, except for two short in- 
tervals, for more than twelve centuries. Up to the beginning of 
the nineteenth century few Jews were allowed in Jerusalem, and 
these were confined to fixed localities. Fifty years ago these 
restrictions were removed, since which time, influenced by coloniza- 
tion schemes having the support of such men as Montefiore, Baron 
de Hirsch, and members of the Rothschild family, the Jewish 
residents in Palestine have increased to 100,000, or one sixth of 
the entire population, many of whom are in farm colonies of 
marked success. Twenty years ago began what is known as the 
Zionist Movement, under the inspiration of a pamphlet by Dr. 
Theodore R. Hertzl, in which he proposed that Palestine 
should be secured for an autonomous government of Jews, under 
the suzerainty of Turkey, and supported by guarantees of the 
great powers of Europe. Little satisfaction was obtained from 
the Sultan when he was approached on the subject of establishing 
a Jewish state. Even before the outbreak of the war, however, 
several European nations had become interested in the project. 
English statesmen like Viscount Bryce and A. J. Balfour have 
recently committed themselves to the policy of giving the Jews a 
national home in Palestine. A dream of many centuries seems 
likely to be realized, but the exact political future of the Holy 
Land probably cannot be determined till the close of the war. 



324 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led 
captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem 
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until 
the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." 31 The 
destruction of Jerusalem, occurring in A. D. 
70, and resulting in the scattering of the Jews 
to various parts of the world, began the ful- 
fillment of this prophecy. The city looked as 
if no one had ever lived there and was as com- 
pletely destroyed as French and Belgian towns 
have been obliterated in the present war. Je- 
rusalem was rebuilt, but without its glorious 
temple. Jews were allowed to live within its 
walls under protest, but through the centuries 
Jerusalem has been trodden under foot in turn 
by Eomans, Syrians, Persians, Franks, Norse- 
men, and Turks. From the day this judgment 
began until this hour the Jews have been under 
subjection to foreign powers. 

How long shall this subjection continue? 
"Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." 
When did these times begin, and when will 
they end? Some students of the Bible say that 
the phrase means the period during which the 
Gentiles — that is, the non-Jewish nations — 
continue in power over the Jews. This began, 
they declare, under Nebuchadnezzar, when 
Jerusalem was taken by siege and hosts of 

"Luke 21. 24. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 325 

Jews were carried into captivity, about six 
hundred years before Christ. The period will 
end, it is said, when the Gentiles, or the non- 
Jewish nations, have all been destroyed, and 
when the Jews, after severe punishment, are 
made the center of a world-wide government 
of which Christ will be the supreme ruler. 

That expectation is based in part on this 
prophecy : "Therefore, fear thou not, O Jacob, 
my servant, saith Jehovah; neither be dis- 
mayed, O Israel : for lo ! I will save thee from 
afar, and thy seed from the land of their cap- 
tivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be 
quiet and at ease, and none shall make him 
afraid. For I am with thee, saith Jehovah, 
to save thee : for I will make a full end of all 
the nations whither I have scattered thee, but 
I will not make a full end of thee; but I will 
correct thee in measure, and will in no wise 
leave thee unpunished." 32 But this prophecy 
was spoken about the return from Babylonian 
captivity. It was fulfilled, and an end truly 
has not been made of Israel, but an end has 
been made of those nations which subdued and 
persecuted the Jews. Assyrians and Baby- 
lonians, Medes and Persians, Greeks and 
Romans have vanished. The Turk is passing. 
But it is an unwarranted stretch of interpreta- 

« Jeremiah 30, 10-11. 



326 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

tion to make this prophecy declare that all the 
nations of the earth will be swept away. 

There are two distinct phases of the period 
called "the times of the Gentiles": First, it 
is during this period that divine judgment is 
in process of execution upon the Jews by means 
of the other nations. We see how this disci- 
pline is being accomplished. The Jew has no 
home, yet he is everywhere. His people are 
not a nation, and yet they are in every nation. 
He is being persecuted on all sides, yet God is 
everywhere preserving him. This will go on 
until his apostasy ceases. Second, it is during 
this period that the Gentiles — that is, the non- 
Jewish nations — are availing themselves of the 
privileges of the Gospel which the Jews re- 
jected ; in other words, the time which will be 
required for the evangelization of the world; 
that is, the period running from the hour of 
the destruction of Jerusalem to the beginning 
of "the day of the Lord/' when Christ will 
come again. 

This is the period through which we are now 
passing. It covers all of the Christian cen- 
turies, all of the missionary efforts from the 
time of Pentecost, when three thousand were 
converted, to the great mass movement in India 
at the present hour, when whole villages and 
tribes are passing over to Christianity in a 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 327 

body. How long this period will last no one 
can tell. But that it will continue until the 
world outside of Judaism, called the Gentiles, 
including all the pagan nations, has been evan- 
gelized is certain from the predictions of our 
Lord. 

There is another prophecy of the New Testa- 
ment which helps us to understand the mean- 
ing of this period. It is made by the apostle 
Paul, who says: "For I would not, brethren, 
have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be 
wise in your own conceits, that a hardening 
in part hath befallen Israel, until the fullness 
of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel 
shall be saved : even as it is written, 

There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer ; 
He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : 
And this is my covenant unto them, 
When I shall take away their sins." 33 

Here "the fullness of the Gentiles" means, 
of course, the great mass of the world's popula- 
tions outside of Judaism. These are to be 
brought in before the Jews are won to Christ. 
The teaching is that the conversion of a ma- 
jority of the Gentile world must take place 
before that of the Jews, as a whole, but no clue 



"Romans 11. 25-27. 



328 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

to the time when this will occur in either case 
is given. 

There is still another passage which con- 
firms this teaching. 34 A council is being held 
in the city of Jerusalem. James is speaking. 
He supports what Peter has just said about 
God visiting the Gentiles. 35 "to take out a 
people for his name." He then cites an old 
prophet as saying : "After this" — that is, after 
the taking out of the Gentiles a people for 
his name — 

"I will return, and will build again the taber- 
nacle of David, which is fallen; 
And I will build again the ruins thereof, 
And I will set it up." 

Here again it is taught that not until the 
Gentiles have been saved shall the Jews be 
brought in. 

It was on the basis of this expectation that 
Paul turned from the Jews to the Gentiles, 
and went through the Eoman Empire like a 
flaming torch. It is with this conviction that 
Christian evangelists have swept over land 
and sea. Their first business is to evangelize 
the world. Here and there a Jew is converted, 
but the number of such conversions is compara- 

34 Acts 15. 12-17. See pages 173, 174. 

35 Amos 9. 11, 12. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 329 

lively small. When the world at large is 
evangelized the Jew will come in. 

The conversion of the Jews will be a remark- 
able event. It will give spiritual enrichment 
to the entire world. "For if the casting away 
of them is the reconciling of the world, what 
shall the receiving of them be, but life from 
the dead?" says Paul. 36 The world has greatly 
profited by the fact that the non-Jewish na- 
tions have had the blessings of Christianity 
offered to them in consequence of Judaism's 
delinquency. That advantage will be still 
further increased when the Jews come back, 
devoting their intellectual ability and their 
spiritual qualities to the religious development 
of mankind. 

When "the times of the Gentiles" have been 
fulfilled, when "the fullness of the Gentiles" 
has come in — that is, when the period of judg- 
ment for the Jews has passed and when the 
Gentiles have been evangelized — will the Jews 
be restored to Palestine as an event connected 
with their conversion? That is a question to 
which Jesus never refers — a very striking fact. 
It is a thing on which Paul and the other 
apostles say nothing. Indeed, the whole New 
Testament is silent upon it. This is remark- 
able if the restoration of the Jews to the land 



18 Romans 11. 15, 



330 WHEN CHEIST COMES AGAIN 

of their ancestors is actually a part of the 
process of their conversion. Nevertheless, the 
old prophecies contained many predictions of 
the restoration of Israel. Some of these 
prophecies were written before the Jews were 
carried away to Babylon. Some of them were 
written during their exile. There are still 
others, however, which were delivered after the 
great Babylonian captivity. These must natur- 
ally refer to some other restoration, and as the 
Jews have not yet returned to Palestine, the 
fulfillment of these predictions is evidently an 
event of the future. 

Yet there is a very important element in the 
prophecies of the restoration of the Jews to 
Palestine which must not be overlooked. If 
these predictions are carefully read it will be 
seen that they unite two things — the righteous- 
ness of the people and their return to the land 
— as though these were two phases of one 
event. Moreover, the order is, first, righteous- 
ness and faith, and then restoration to privi- 
lege and power. 

The importance of the recent migration of 
the Jews may be overemphasized by some who 
seem to be anxious to fulfill prophecy more 
rapidly than the Lord appears to be. For ex- 
ample, a railway has been built from Joppa to 
Jerusalem, and some writers refer this to the 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 331 

mighty chariots mentioned in Nahum 2. 3, 
while others confine the applications of this 
passage to motor cars. In each instance the 
interpretation is childish. One writer, giving 
way to his imagination, thinks that this rail- 
way may be the highway of holiness over which 
the ransomed of the Lord are to return "with 
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads." 37 
This pious trifling prepares one for still fur- 
ther exhibitions of folly, such as the suggestion 
that "a rebuilt Palestine, and not a murdered 
archduke, is the real cause of the present great 
war.'' It is too early to say what the war will 
bring forth, but no forced migration to the 
Holy Land will answer the terms of ancient 
prophecy which require the Christianization of 
the Jews. Our conclusion is, therefore, that 
the current interest of the Jews in Palestine 
is no necessary mark of the end of the age or 
the return of Christ to judge the world. 38 



« Isaiah 35. 10. 

38 In connection with this subject it is well to keep in mind 
that the Jews themselves are far from agreement on the project 
of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine. The orthodox Jews 
expect some day to return to the land of their fathers, but they 
are waiting for the Messiah to lead them back. As was predicted 
by our Lord, many false Messiahs have appeared from time to 
time offering to do this. In every instance they have failed. 
Some pious Jews think that the movement is a wicked attempt 
to forestall Divine Providence. Reformed Jews are in large 
numbers opposed to the enterprise. It is significant that of the 
thousands of Zionist societies in the world the great majority are 



332 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

The Final Apostasy 

This war occurs at a time when lawlessness 
is rife in the earth, the war itself being the 
most terrible outbreak of disorder known to 
modern times; a period also when religious 
thought is unsettled, when even Christians are 
astray in both belief and behavior ; when it is 
claimed the church is in an apostasy, and when, 
therefore, we may look for the speedy exposure 
of "the mystery of iniquity" and the appear- 
ance of "the lawless one," "the son of perdi- 
tion," in whom all iniquity is to come to a head, 
and who is to be slain at the appearing of 
Christ to judge the world, as foretold by the 
apostle Paul. 39 

Those who claim that this prophecy is in 
process of fulfillment and is fast approaching 
the hour of its consummation point to the 
various forms of lawlessness which they dis- 
cover in the world. They include in this cata- 

found in Russia, indicating that persecutions are largely re- 
sponsible for the wish of Jews to reach a place of security in their 
ancestral home. In America and England, where Jews do not 
suffer persecution, the Zionist movement does not enjoy so large 
a support. Nathan Straus has said that when Palestine is declared 
a republic every Jew in the United States who wishes to go there 
will be given free passage; but the Jew in this country, with his 
wonderful instinct for money-making and his marvelous ability to 
adapt himself to every situation, shows greater fondness for New 
York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other great centers of American 
commerce than he does for Jerusalem. 

39 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-10. See pages 175-179, 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 333 

logue the anarchy, which showed itself in many 
countries even before this war ; the revolution- 
ary socialism, which affects even democracies 
like England and America; the outrages com- 
mitted by industrial agitations ; the frequency 
of lynchings in the United States and the 
multiplication of divorces; the general disre- 
gard for authority shown in the disobedience 
of children in both school and home, and the 
characteristic American irreverence for digni- 
taries and rulers, and other flagrant examples 
of public and private wickedness. 

But all these instances of lawlessness mav 
be paralleled in other periods of history. As 
a single example, we may take the French 
Eevolution, with its denial of God and the 
immortality of the soul, its defiance of au- 
thority and tradition, its breaking up of insti- 
tutions that were hallowed by antiquity, and 
its profane assault upon everything sacred in 
the thought and affections of mankind. Other 
illustrations of aggravated disorder will be 
recalled by any studious reader of history, and 
these will be recognized as fitting Paul's de- 
scription as well as current conditions. 

In addition to the charge that this is a period 
of extreme lawlessness, the critics of our times 
who are expecting the gospel dispensation to 
end in superlative wickedness point to the pres- 



334 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ent state of religion in the world as a proof 
that the prediction of Paul is now approach- 
ing fulfillment. In proof of the assertion that 
"the mystery of iniquity doth already work," 
they quote Paul's words in passages which we 
have elsewhere discussed. 40 They declare the 
time is already come when people "will not 
endure sound doctrine." 41 They say we are 
living in the foretold perilous times in which 
Christians have a form of godliness, but deny 
the power thereof. 42 They say we have reached 
the later times "when some shall fall away 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing 
spirits," 43 in proof of which they point to 
Spiritualism, Theosophy, New Thought, Chris- 
tian Science, and kindred cults. They say that 
the seven churches of Asia, described in the 
Apocalypse, represent seven periods in the his- 
tory of organized Christianity, and declare 
that the nominal church has now reached the 
Laodicean state of lukewarmness and the Lord 
will soon spew the disgusting thing out of his 
mouth. 44 They say that biblical criticism in 
our theological seminaries shows them to be 
nests of heresy, that our religious periodicals 

40 See pp. 168-171. 

41 2 Timothy 4. 3, 4. 

42 2 Timothy 3. 1-6. 
43 1 Timothy 4. 1. 

44 Revelation 3. 16. 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 335 

are sources of poison, and that our pulpits are 
occupied by false prophets. They say the 
church, as a whole, has abandoned the prin- 
ciples of the apostles, is engulfed in lawless- 
ness, and is bearing false witness concerning 
the gospel of Christ. As one of their writers 
puts it, "the awful spiritual dearth in the great 
nominal church is another evidence" of the 
apostasy preceding the coming of Christ. 

The main trouble with this charge is that 
it is not true. So far as "the mystery of in- 
iquity" is concerned, that explains the chronic 
condition of the world. John Wesley has a 
famous sermon, 45 in which he shows that this 
poison has been spreading itself ever since 
humanity has been on this globe. Perhaps Paul 
had a particular variety of iniquity in his 
mind, but it could not long remain a novelty. 
As for heresies, they began as soon as the 
church was started and have kept thriving 
until this hour. As for hypocrisy, that began 
in apostolic times and is still in the church and 
out of it. 

But to say that the church is worse in these 
respects than ever is contrary to the facts. 
Biblical criticism is inspired by the desire to 
get at the exact truth of these books in the 
Bible, and not by a purpose to blast the 

45 Wesley's Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 57-67. 



336 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

foundations of the faith. Our theological semi- 
naries are earnestly striving to produce the 
best preachers they can make out of the ma- 
terial sent to them. There never was a time 
when more study was given to the Scriptures 
or when more people loved the sacred books 
than now. There never was a time when Chris- 
tians were more anxious to get back to the 
basal truths of religion, or when the gospel 
of Christ was so well understood, or when so 
many people were trying to live it. To say 
there is an awful spiritual dearth in the church 
is to deny the evidence of great revival move- 
ments and spiritual undertakings. The en- 
thusiasm for the salvation of the world never 
ran so high in the history of Christendom. It 
is true that our generation does not spend so 
much time or thought on the cultivation of the 
individual inner life as did former generations, 
but much more time and energy are spent on 
trying to save the unsaved. There may be a 
slight temporary decline in the appreciation 
of public and private worship, but there is a 
great increase in practical religion. In any 
case, more people are listening to sermons to- 
day than at any hour since Peter preached on 
the Day of Pentecost ; and, what is still better, 
there are more people practicing these sermons 
than have ever tried to exemplify "pure and 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 337 

imdefiled religion before God and the Father" 
since the first bureau of charities was organ- 
ized by Stephen and his board of deacons in 
Jerusalem. 

Another trouble with this charge is that, 
even if it were sustained, there are parallel 
instances in history which fit these predictions 
equally well. A single illustration will suffice. 
Look at the moral and religious condition of 
England in the eighteenth century, as de- 
scribed by thoroughly reliable historians. 46 



46 "Of the prominent statesmen of the time the greater part 
were unbelievers in any form of Christianity, and distinguished 
by the grossness and immorality of their lives. Drunkenness and 
foul talk were thought no discredit to Walpole. A later prime 
minister, the Duke of Grafton, was in the habit of appearing with 
his mistress at the play. Purity and fidelity to the marriage vow 
were sneered out of fashion; and Lord Chesterfield, in his letters 
to his son, instructs him in the art of seduction as part of a polite 
education. At the other end of the social scale lay the masses 
of the poor. They were ignorant and brutal to a degree which it 
is hard to conceive, for the vast increase of population which fol- 
lowed on the growth of towns and the development of manufac- 
tures had been met by no effort for their religious or educational 
improvement. Not a new parish had been created. Hardly a 
single new church had been built. ... In the streets of London 
gin shops invited every passerby to get drunk for a penny, or 
dead drunk for twopence" (Green, A Short History of the Eng- 
lish People, p. 707). 

It is the testimony of Abel Stevens that "the celebrated jurist 
Blackstone had the curiosity early in the reign of George III to 
go from church to church and hear every clergyman of note in 
LondoD. He assures us that he heard not a single discourse 
which had more Christianity in it than the writings of Cicero; 
and that it would have been impossible for him to discover, 
from what he heard, whether the preacher was a follower of 



338 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

Surely, this was a time of "awful spiritual 
dearth/' and of frightful apostasy. There were 
holy persons of that period who believed that 
the end of all things was at hand. But the 
more practical, reasonable persons among the 
spiritually minded leaders of the day saw in 
the conditions about them a loud summons to 
renewed diligence ; and by the preaching of the 
truth and the ministry of gentleness to the 
brutal population of the lower orders stirred 
England to a religious reformation only second 
in importance to that of the sixteenth century. 
But if it could be shown, as in fact it can- 
not be, that the falling away in Saint Paul's 
description of "the mystery of iniquity," which 
will eventuate in the appearance of the "law- 
less one," has taken place, it would not follow 
that the end of the age is immediately at hand, 
even according to this prediction, for whatever 
restrains "the son of perdition" must first be 
taken away. Then "the lawless one" will ap- 
pear, after which he is to be destroyed. It is 
not affirmed that all this will follow in quick 



Confucius, of Mohammed, or of Christ." The same author 
quotes Burnet as saying that he saw "imminent ruin hanging 
over the church"; and Watts as writing that "religion was dying 
in the world"; and Butler as declaring that "it had come to be 
taken for granted that Christianity was no longer a subject of 
inquiry, but at length was discovered to be fictitious" (Stevens, 
History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 33; vol. ii, p. 17). 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 339 

succession. Centuries may be required to ful- 
fill the terms. 

Now, let us hear the conclusion of the whole 
matter. It may be true that this war is lead- 
ing up to the end of the age and to the time 
when Christ will return to judge the world. 
But if this be so, it is not proved to be so by 
the alleged fact that this war shows the world 
plunged into a bottomless abyss, since it shows 
nothing of the kind. The chiefs of autocracy 
and absolutism, the most prominent of whom 
are nominal Christians, may be, and doubtless 
are, guilty of a frightful apostasy from the 
Christian faith which they profess. They have 
turned the truth of religion into a lie. They 
have caricatured the God of the Bible. They 
have stolen the sanctions of religion for acts 
of the devil. They are guilty of a sacrilege so 
base that we can only hope they do not realize 
the enormity of their sin. 

But the other Christian nations involved in 
this war have not shared in this apostasy. On 
the other hand, they have bravely espoused 
the cause of righteousness. They have risen 
to smite the foes of liberty. They are the 
champions of the doctrines of the Fatherhood 
of God and the brotherhood of man. They are 
undertaking to drive organized oppression 
from the face of the earth. They are propos- 



340 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

ing to make mankind free. They are prepar- 
ing the way of the Lord. They are making it 
easier for truth to prevail. This is an up- 
ward and not a downward age. When the war 
is over, the world will have been cleansed 
from iniquities hoary with age, and the oppor- 
tunities for Christian evangelization will have 
been multiplied a hundredfold. All that Christ 
said to warn his followers against being de- 
ceived by tokens and signs which others might 
falsely interpret should lead us to beware of 
hasty conclusions, based on our poor human 
reasonings, about the signs of the times. When 
people say they know that Christ is soon to 
return because of the conditions which pre- 
vail, and then support their judgment by such 
alleged fulfillments of prophecy as those which 
we have considered in this chapter and others 
of like character, the only response which the 
judicious can make is, that not one of these 
things nor all of them together, as stated, are 
in the least degree convincing to men of sober 
minds who know the Scriptures and are fa- 
miliar with the history of mankind. 

The supreme thing is, that we live always 
in the consciousness of Christ's presence and 
remember that, as in past centuries, periods 
of extraordinary mental activity, as well as 
periods of apparent religious depression, have 



THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 341 

preceded tremendous upheavals of moral 
earnestness and spiritual power, so there is 
much reason to believe that we are now on the 
eve of the most wonderful development of 
Christian activity the world has ever known. 

The story of an American hero seems appro- 
priate to our day. John Paul Jones, with half 
his men dead and dying on the deck of his 
ship, with most of his guns dismantled and his 
flag shot away from the masthead, is hailed 
by a British officer with the challenge, "Have 
you surrendered?" John Paul Jones, climb- 
ing the rope ladder with hammer and nails 
in his hands to put Old Glory back upon the 
masthead, shouts back in reply, "No, we have 
just begun the fight." That would seem to be 
the situation in Christendom to-day. The out- 
look for the future is so broad and promising 
that we are constrained to think of these days, 
not as the last times, but as the first times, 
not as the end of the age, but in a large sense, 
the beginning of the age, not as the time when 
Christ is to return and his church is to con- 
fess its failure and defeat, but as a time when 
Christ's spiritual presence in the earth at this 
very moment is to be made so vivid and clear 
to people of spiritual intelligence, that every- 
where the church shall wake to the sense of 
her new responsibility, to the consciousness 



342 WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 

of the personal leadership of her Lord, and to 
the knowledge of her own unexplored and un- 
developed resources, and shall eagerly pour 
out her treasure and her strength for the eon- 
quest of the world to Christian truth. 
"Lead on, O King Eternal !" 



APPENDIX 

Millennial Definitions 

Millenarians, like the advocates of other doc- 
trines not generally accepted by men, have a 
vocabulary quite their own. Sometimes they take 
terms which are already in use and impart to 
them a significance suited to their own purpose. 
Frequently these are terms found in the Bible 
but not used in the sense which millenarians 
ascribe to them. Sometimes they invent phrases 
which cannot be understood without explanation, 
and the explanation given is in the nature of an 
argument for the doctrine held. Having found 
that many people are confused by this practice, 
the author herewith subjoins a brief list of such 
words and phrases with definitions and exposi- 
tions which he feels will enable the student to 
make proper distinctions. Other terms, not so 
singular, are also included in the list for the 
convenience of the general reader. 

Abomination op Desolation, The. — This phrase 
is found in Daniel 9. 27; 11. 31; 12. 11; and is 
quoted by our Lord in his Apocalyptic discourse 
on Mount Olivet, Matthew 24. 15; Mark 13. 14. 
In Daniel it refers to the profaning of the temple 
by Antiochus Epiphanes and the cessation of 
the daily sacrifice (see pages 62, 63, 263, 311, 312). 

343 



344 APPENDIX 

In Christ's address it predicts a sacrilege of like 
character which, according to history, did occur 
at the destruction of Jerusalem when the over- 
throw of the national life and religion of the Jews 
was accomplished. Nevertheless, premillennialists 
apply both passages to the coming of the Anti- 
christ at the end of the age, making this event a 
part of the Tribulation which, according to their 
program, is to precede the final return of Christ 
at the beginning of the millennium. 

Armageddon, or Har-Magedon. — Found only in 
Kevelation 16. 16, but probably derived from 2 
Chronicles 35. 22-24, where the defeat and death 
of Josiah at Megiddo are described (compare 2 
Kings 23. 29, 30). Allusion to this event is made 
in Zechariah 12. 11. Megiddo was on the edge 
of the plain of Esdraelon, famous for many a 
critical battle. Here fought Barak against Sisera 
(Judges 5. 19-21). Here contended Thotmes III, 
Barneses II, and Barneses III. Here have strug- 
gled the armies of the Assyrians, of the Crusaders, 
of Napoleon Bonaparte. The region is at this 
moment (1918) trodden by the feet of British 
soldiers. John in his Apocalypse sees in this 
locality the fittest place for the gathering of "the 
kings of the whole world" to "the war of the great 
day of God, the Almighty" (Bevelation 16. 14). 
Armageddon has thus naturally passed into the 
literature of the world as a symbol of the final 
contest between good and evil. Beference to this 
vast overthrow of Satan is also made in Bevela- 



APPENDIX 345 

tion 20. 9. Some see in Kevelation 14. 14-20 ; 19. 
11-21 other pictures of the same decisive and final 
conflict. 

Premillennialists are not satisfied to regard 
Armageddon as symbolical of the ultimate defeat 
of unrighteousness, much as Waterloo is in 
modern speech commonly used to symbolize any 
tragic overthrow, but insist on giving it a literal 
interpretation forecasting a martial contest in 
which Christ and his hosts will defeat Satan and 
his armies. They profess to find descriptions of 
this fight in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Zephaniah, 
Zechariah. They also link it with 2 Thessalo- 
nians 1. 5-10. They expect literal fire to come 
down out of heaven and devour the enemies of 
Christ (Eevelation 20. 9). It seems more con- 
sistent with the character of the Christ who re- 
buked James and John for desiring to call down 
fire upon the Samaritans to say that the fire 
which will drop from heaven will be like that 
which fell on the Day of Pentecost when three 
thousand souls were converted. The last war on 
earth will be a spiritual conflict in which iniquity 
will be consumed by the fire of love and not by 
that of hate. A premillennial writer has said, 
"The present war might merge into the battle of 
Armageddon, but is more probably the precursor 
of it." His restraint is commendable, but every 
war is a precursor of the Armageddon, in which 
all war will be forever destroyed. 

Chiliad, Chiliasm, Chiliast. — From the Greek 



346 APPENDIX 

word meaning "a thousand." The equivalents 
are millennium, millennialism, millennialist, mil- 
lenarian, etc., which are derived from a Latin 
word also meaning "a thousand." 

Church, The. — In millennial parlance not or- 
ganized Christianity, including all its divisions, 
as ordinarily understood, but a body of persons 
called out of organized Christianity and sepa- 
rated unto God, known as the saints, the elect, 
the body of Christ, the bride of Christ; few in 
numbers and destined to continuous persecution 
until Christ returns. What is usually called the 
church is to premillennialists a mere aggregation 
of churches which in themselves are but assem- 
blies of professing Christians who have the form 
of godliness, but in most cases deny the power 
thereof. 

Dispensation. — The original meaning of the 
term as used in the New Testament is "steward- 
ship" and it is so translated in Luke 16. 2, 3, 4 ; 
1 Corinthians 9. 17. It primarily signifies the 
management of a house. From its Greek form 
is directly derived our English word "economy." 
It is translated "dispensation" in Ephesians 1. 
10; 3. 2; Colossians 1. 25. It is customary to 
speak of the Old Testament and the New Testa- 
ment dispensations, thus broadly expressing the 
distinction between the Hebrew and Christian 
administrations of the divine economy. "For the 
law was given through Moses; grace and truth 
came through Jesus Christ" (John 1. 17). How- 



APPENDIX 347 

ever, theologians have usually designated three 
dispensations, the Patriarchal, extending from 
Adam to the giving of the law; the Mosaic, from 
the revelation at Sinai to the ministry of Christ; 
the Christian, from the establishment of the 
church to the end of the world. 

Millennialists, however, have increased the 
number of dispensations to suit their theories. 
Many assert there are seven. A prominent pre- 
millennialist states them thus. 1. Man innocent 
— in Eden. 2. Man under conscience — from Eden 
to the Flood. 3. Man in authority over the earth 
— from the Flood to Abraham. 4. Man under 
promise — from Abraham to Moses. 5. Man under 
law — from Moses to Christ. 6. Man under grace 
— from the death of Christ to his second advent. 
7. Man under the personal reign of Christ — the 
millennium. The number seven is evidently chosen 
because of its sacredness in the Scriptures. 
Aside from this, an ingenious mind might well 
increase the number of dispensations at will. 
The scheme is mechanical and arbitrary. It was 
invented to fit an artificial doctrine. It has no 
authority in Scripture, though it is called by its 
author an example of "rightly dividing the word 
of truth." 

Dispensational Truth. — A phrase of premil- 
lennialists to express an assumed superiority of 
wisdom touching the divine economy as exempli- 
fied in the several dispensations which their 
ingenuity has devised. "Those who are familiar 



348 APPENDIX 

with dispensational truth" is a formula which, 
with its equivalents, is often used to describe 
the class of persons who are alleged to have a 
deeper knowledge of God's words and works than 
ordinary Christians possess. 

Gog and Magog. — Found in the New Testament 
only in Revelation 20. 8, evidently brought thence 
from Ezekiel 38 and 39. Gog is called "the prince 
of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal" in Ezekiel 38. 2, and 
"of the land of Magog." But in Revelation 20. 8 
Gog and Magog are both used to represent "the 
nations which are in the four corners of the 
earth." 

Most scholars identify Gog as the Lydian 
monarch Gyges, and Magog as a dynasty existent 
in EzekieFs time in the region of the Black and 
Caspian Seas; but the prophet apparently con- 
ceives of Gog not as an historical character, but 
as an impersonation of the peril which threatens 
Palestine through an invasion by northern bar- 
barians. This he uses as a type of this world's 
enmity toward the kingdom of God. The massing 
of the forces of evil will, according to his expecta- 
tion, result in the triumph of Jehovah. In like 
manner Gog and Magog in the book of Revela- 
tion designate the unholy world-powers which 
are to be overthrown by Christ and his saints. 

But premillennialists, with their obsession for 
the literal fulfillment of every prediction, make 
Ezekiel and John foretell events which are yet 
to occur. They say that EzekieFs Gog and Magog 



APPENDIX 349 

represent the great conflict which will take place 
at the beginning of the millennium, while John's 
reference is to the final contest after the millen- 
nium. As we are now in the period before the 
millennium, they see in current events an ap- 
proach to that conflict which is to take place at 
Christ's return to judge the nations at the open- 
ing of the millennium. For example, they hold 
that Bosh is Kussia, Meshech is Moscow, Tubal 
is Tobolsk, etc. The prince of Eosh is the ruler 
of Eussia, a country now in revolution and groan- 
ing for democracy, which they say it may obtain 
in some temporary form, though it will later 
return to monarchy. This great northern power, 
which will be in alliance with nations not in the 
original Eoman empire, which is to be revived, 
will descend upon Palestine, where the Jews will 
then have gathered, and a terrific struggle will 
ensue just before the reign of peace and righteous- 
ness known as the millennium. A thousand years 
will then pass away, and again Gog and Magog 
will be assembled for the final engagement, in 
which the devil and his armies will be everlast- 
ingly annihilated, as described in Eevelation 20. 
8. This program will doubtless be changed by 
premillennialists if events do not confirm it, and 
another scheme will be substituted which will 
seem more plausible. Thus does a straining after 
literalism destroy the true spirit of prophecy. 

Kingdom of God, The. — In millennial usage 
not the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah referred 



350 APPENDIX 

to in the Gospels and illustrated by many para- 
bles, which was heralded by John the Baptist as 
at hand, and proclaimed by Christ to be among 
or within his generation; which Paul and the 
other apostles recognized as already extending 
itself through the world in their day, and which 
is to be consummated in the heavenly and eternal 
state of the redeemed; but a physical kingdom 
which can come only with the return of Christ, 
at which time he and his saints will occupy ma- 
terial thrones and rule the world, having de- 
stroyed their enemies by martial operations — a 
kind of glorified British empire on which the sun 
never sets. Kighteousness and peace will uni- 
versally characterize this kingdom, but they will 
have been produced by the extermination of sin- 
ners and the enthronement of saints rather than 
by any distinctly spiritual process. 

MlLLENNIALISTS, MlLLENARIANS. Those who 

believe in a reign of righteousness and peace on 
this earth for a thousand years or more, sepa- 
rated from the rest of human history by definite 
boundaries and called the millennium. This doc- 
trine rests on three things: 1. A single passage 
of Scripture, Revelation 20. 1-7. 2. Expressions 
in the Talmud and in the apocalyptic writings of 
the Jews in the period between the close of in- 
spired prophecy and the birth of Christ, which 
describe a golden age of a thousand years. 3. A 
misapplication of the prophecies which anticipate 
the triumph of righteousness in the earth, but 



APPENDIX 351 

nowhere contain any reference to an isolated 
period of a thousand years known as the millen- 
nium. 

Premillennialists. — Those who believe Christ 
will return to the earth before the millennium 
and by his visible presence and power create that 
millennium. This is the simplest form of their 
doctrine, but other teachings in great variety 
attach themselves to the beliefs of most premil- 
lennialists, and these have been discussed in 
pages 237-65, 273-301, 30942. 

Postmillennialists. — Those who believe Christ 
will return to the earth after the millennium, 
or at its climax, or in consequence of it. They 
look for a steady growth in righteousness under 
the spiritual lordship of Christ until the world 
has been largely or wholly won to the truth, when 
Christ will return to receive the fruits of victory 
and apportion rewards to the faithful and recom- 
pense to the unjust. 

Antimillennialists. — Those who believe that 
Christ will return to the earth in due time to 
judge the quick and the dead and to usher in his 
eternal reign, but who do not believe in a mil- 
lennium of a thousand years or more either before 
or after Christ's return. They regard the golden 
age to come, toward which the prophets looked 
with eager eyes, as a finality or consummation 
only to be realized in the heavenly state. Time 
will melt into eternity when Christ shall have 



352 APPENDIX 

been acclaimed universal Lord. The church 
fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, during 
which nearly all the greatest writers of early 
Christianity lived, were antimillennialists. The 
term may be properly used to include the ma- 
jority of Christians in our day who are opposed 
to premillennialism, among whom are many 
usually designated as postmillennialists. The 
rejection of the millennium as a segregated period 
of time does away with much of the elements 
of discord between premillennialists and post- 
millennialists, and does not impair a belief in 
Christ's second advent. 

Parousia. — A Greek word meaning "presence," 
and so translated in 2 Corinthians 10. 10 ; Philip- 
pians 1. 26; 2. 12; rendered also "coming" in the 
sense of arrival in 1 Corinthians 16. 17; 2 Corin- 
thians 7. 6, 7 ; 2 Thessalonians 2. 9 ; 2 Peter 3. 12 ; 
used to denote the future advent of Christ in 
Matthew 24. 3, 27, 37, 39 ; 1 Corinthians 15. 23 ; 
1 Thessalonians 2. 19; 3. 13; 4. 15; 5. 23; 2 
Thessalonians 2. 1, 8; James 5. 7, 8; 2 Peter 1. 16; 
3. 4 ; 1 John 2. 28. 

Prophecy. — In the writings of the premillen- 
nialists almost always means "prediction," 
though prophecy in biblical usage includes 
preaching, teaching, exhortation, and every form 
of human utterance, including psalms and hymns, 
through which God chooses to express himself to 
mankind. When Paul says, "Despise not pro- 
phesyings" (1 Thessalonians 5. 20), a text much 



APPENDIX 353 

quoted by premillennialists, he is not directing 
the attention of his readers to predictions, but to 
the operations of the Holy Spirit on human minds 
enabling them to speak with unusual power. 
John Calvin, whose doctrine of election is dear 
to premillennialists, says, "By the term 'pro- 
phesying' I do not understand the gift of fore- 
telling the future, but the science of interpreting 
Scripture, so that a prophet is an interpreter of 
the will of God." A noted premillennialist refers 
to a certain man as "an accredited student of 
prophecy/' by which he means that he is accepted 
by premillennialists as a safe instructor of the 
literal interpretation of their favorite predic- 
tions. A casual reader is likely to be misled by 
such a statement into supposing there is a gen- 
eral agreement among devout scholars that men 
of this class are reliable because they have the 
indorsement of premillennialists. 

Kapture, The. — Not an ecstasy of the saints, 
but their sudden removal from the earth as the 
first act in the process of Christ's second advent 
as arranged by premillennialists. It is held by 
them that this quick withdrawal will be accom- 
plished secretly. Theoretically it might occur 
at any instant. Premillennialists indulge in 
much speculation as to the probable effect of this 
unobserved departure of the living saints to- 
gether with those who have been raised from 
the dead (1 Thessalonians 4. 13-18. Compare 1 
Corinthians 15. 23; 51-53). The placing of the 



354 APPENDIX 

Eapture before the actual visible return of Christ 
to judge the world is a point on which the ma- 
jority of Christians disagree with premillennial- 
ists. 

Eevelation, The. — Not the Scriptures, nor any 
part of them; not prophecy nor apocalypse, but 
the manifestation of Christ at his second advent 
when he will destroy the Antichrist, according 
to premillennialists. Our English word "epiph- 
any" is derived from the Greek word translated 
"manifestation" in 2 Thessalonians 2. 8. The 
saints who have been caught up in the air to 
meet their Lord will return with him, and the 
discomfiture of "the man of sin," "the son of 
perdition," will be public. Premillennialists 
quote Eevelation 1. 7 in this connection. Between 
the Eapture and "The Eevelation" they place the 
great Tribulation (see below). 

Tribulation, The Great. — According to pre- 
millennialists, not human life with its inevitable 
testing of character, nor any supreme trial of the 
individual, but a definite period of unparalleled 
suffering for the whole world in a certain period 
of its history, fitted in between the coming of 
Christ to take the saints with him into the air 
and his return to destroy the Antichrist and set 
up the millennium. This will be a time, the length 
of which is in dispute, during which the Anti- 
christ will rule and cruelly persecute and destroy 
all who do not acknowledge his sovereignty. It 
will end with the return of Christ to judge the 



APPENDIX 355 

nations. The basic passage for this doctrine is 
Kevelation 7. 14, but preinillennialists illustrate 
and defend their theory by reference to Daniel 
12. 1, Jeremiah 30. 7, Matthew 24. 21, 22, and 
virtually every prediction of extensive disaster 
found in the Bible. This bringing together un- 
related passages which plainly refer to separate 
historic events and focusing them upon one event 
at the end of the age is a favorite method of pre- 
inillennialists which discredits either their in- 
telligence or their honesty. The passages just 
referred to are described and applied in pages 
310-315. 

Tribulation Saints. — Those who refuse obeis- 
ance to the Antichrist during the great Tribula- 
tion and are murdered for their loyalty to Christ. 
According to premillennialists they will be raised 
from the dead when Christ returns to earth with 
his saints at the close of the Eapture (see above). 
Thus we have, according to premillennialists, a 
resurrection of the saints at the time of the Eap- 
ture, a resurrection of the "tribulation saints" 
after the Rapture and at the time of the Revela- 
tion (see above), and the resurrection of others 
who are still in their graves at the end of the 
millennium and all of those who died in the 
period called "a little season" during which Satan 
has been loosed, and after which he is overthrown 
forever. This multiplicity of resurrections is 
utterly foreign to anything Jesus taught. See 
John 5. 28, 29 ; 6. 39, 40, 44. 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 



Genesis 




Psalms 




3. 9 


... 133 


2. 


8 


276 


18. 25 


... 83 


8. 


6-9 , 


319 


49. 14 


... 274 


9. 


8 , 


83 


Exodus 




72. 


11 , 


276 


7. 1 


... 268 


72. 


16 


279 


Numbers 




86. 


9 


276 


11. 24-29 


... 268 


90. 


4 


109 


24. 17 


... 274 


102. 


16 


274 


Deuteronomy 




Proverbs 




18. 18-22 


... 269 


30. 


1 , 


268 


29. 29 


... 16 


Isaiah 




33. 2 


... 274 


2. 


2 


....279, 283 


Joshua 




2. 


2-5 


, 288 


10. 8-14 


... 284 


2. 


12 


304 


Judges 




6. 


11-13 


272 


5. 19-21 


... 344 


9. 


6 


266 


7. 15-22 


... 284 


9. 


7 


276 


1st Samuel 




11. 


1-9 


....205, 288 


14. 19-23 


... 284 


13. 


6. 9, 13., 


, 304 


1st Kings 




13. 


6-22 


307 


22. 19-23 


... 281 


13. 


10 


..70, 71, 306 


2d Kings 




13. 


16-21.... 


280 


23. 29, 30 


... 344 


24 


and 27.., 


281 


1st Chronicles 




34. 


4 


..70, 71, 306 


25. 1 


... 268 


34. 


8 


304 


2d Chronicles 




35. 


10 


331 


15. 8 


... 268 


35. 


55, 60... 


205, 288 


20. 15-23 


... 284 


38. 


5 


272 


35. 22-24 


... 344 


38. 


33-35 


272 


Job 


... 274 


40. 
42. 


9-11 


266-274 


19. 25 


1-4, 6, 7 . , 


267 



357 



358 INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 



Isaiah 

45. 22, 23 267 

48. 3-7 269 

52. 7-12 266, 274 

60 267 

61. 2 304 

Jeremiah 

1. 9 268 

18. 7-10 271 

20. 9 268 

22. 18, 19 272 

23. 28 11 

25. 11, 12 272 

26. 12, 13, 17-19 271 

28 272 

30. 7... 304, 306,310, 355 

30. 10, 11 325 

38. 14-23 272 

46. 10 304 

Lamentations 

2. 22 304 

EZEKIEL 

1 to 32 281 

33 to 48 281 

2. 3 268 

3. 27 268 

7. 19 304 

13. 5 304 

30. 3 304 

32. 7, 8 70, 71, 306 

37. 9 *.. 268 

38. 2 348 

47 279 

47. 1-12 283 

Daniel 

2. 31-45 281 

7 281 

7, 13, 14 206 



Daniel 

7. 21-27 4 306 

7. 25 303 

8 281 

9. 24-28 281 

9. 27 343 

11. 2-12. 4 281 

11. 31 343 

12. 1 262, 311, 355 

12. 4 318 

12. 7 303 

12. 11 343 

HOSEA 

4. 1-6 305 

Joel 

1. 15 304, 306 

2. 1, 2, 11, 31 304 

2. 3-11 306 

2. 28-32 70, 71 

2. 30, 31 306 

2. 31 306 

3. 9-21 i. 281 

3. 14 304 

3. 18 279, 284 

Amos 

2. 1-3 305 

3. 9-15 305 

5. 2 272 

5 to 7 306 

5. 18-20. 304, 305 

7. 14, 15 268 

9. 11, 12 328 

9. 13.... 70, 71, 279, 306 
9. 13-15 279 

Obadiah 

15 304 

17-21 308 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 359 



Jonah 

3 271 

MlCAH 

3. 12 272 

4. 1 283 

4. 10 272 

Habakkuk 

3 308 

Zephaniah 

1. 7, 14 304 

1. 14-16 306 

1. 15-18 310 

2. 2, 3 304 

2. 11 267 

2. 14 280 

3. 1-13 305 

Haggai 

2. 6, 7. 267 

2. 22 306 

Zechariah 

1 to 8 306 

9. 9, 10 266 

12. 11 344 

14 281, 282 

14. 1 304 

14. 1-4 282 

14. 4, 5, 10, 16 284 

14. 8, 9 283 

14. 9 276 

14. 10 283 

14. 12, 13 283 

14. 16 284 

14. 18 284 

14. 20 284 

Malachi 

3. 2 304 



Malachi 

3. 2-15 306 

4. 5 304 

Matthew 

2. 2 79 

7. 15 18 

7. 24-29 58 

8. 10 106 

10. 1-23 99 

10. 23 36, 100 

13. 24-30 86, 185 

13. 31 189 

13. 31-33 116 

13. 33 186 

13. 36-43 37, 86 

16. 27 36, 78 

16. 28 93, 113 

18. 20 145 

19. 28 78 

20. 28 134, 191 

22. 44 122 

24 39, 51, 281 

24. 3 352 

24. 4-8 60 

24. 4-13 61 

24. 4, 23 138 

24. 5, 11, 24 17 

24. 6 60 

24. 6-8 303 

24. 8 60 

24. 13 99 

24. 14 67, 102, 116 

24. 15 263, 343 

24. 15-28 62 

24. 17, 23, 2S f 37, 41. 56 
24. 21, 22... 261, 311, 355 

24. 22 65 

24. 25-28 78 



360 INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 



Matthew 

24. 27 68, 244, 352 

24. 29 66, 250, 262 

24. 29-31 69 

24. 30 78, 95 

24. 31 72, 81 

24. 32, 33 39, 139 

24. 34 65, 113 

24. 35 73 

24. 36 68, 105, 137 

24. 36-42 318 

24. 37 352 

24. 39 352 

24, 37-39 69, 182 

24. 39, 44 67 

24. 40, 41 181 

24. 42-44 142 

24. 43.. 79 

24. 43-51..... 56 

24. 44 108, 138 

24. 45-47 151 

24. 48 101 

24. 48-51 152 

25. 1-12 ,.. 39 

25. 1-13, 147 

25. 5 101 

25. 13-20 39 

25. 14-30 81, 152 

25. 19 101 

25. 31... 78 

25. 31-33 82 

25. 31-46 

37, 58, 87, 183, 252 

25. 34 164 

25. 40, 45 '.. 83 

25. 42-44 39 

26. 13 116 

26. 40 156 



Matthew 

26. 64 37, 78 

28. 18-20 129, 275 

28. 20 145 

Mark 

4. 26-29 116 

6. 6 , 106 

8. 38 37, 85 

9. 1 ...36, 113 

9. 42 19 

10. 45 ... 191 

12. 7, 8 303 

13 39, 51, 281 

13. 3 52 

13. 5-8 60, 61 

13. 6, 22 17 

13. 7.. 60 

13. 8.. 60 

13. 10.... 116 

13. 13 99 

13. 14 263, 343 

13. 14-23 63 

13. 19, 20 311 

13. 21-23 78 

13. 24 66, 261, 262 

13. 24, 25 250 

13. 24-27 69 

13. 26 78 

13. 27 72, 81 

13, 29 139 

13. 30 65 

13. 32 68, 105 

13. 32-37 318 

13. 33 148 

13. 34-37 150 

13. 37 138 

14. 10 67 

14. 62 37, 78 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 361 



Luke 

2. 52 105 

9. 26 37, 85 

9. 27 36, 113 

9. 55.. 118 

10. 18 230 

12. 1 187 

12. 35, 36 109 

12. 35-38 147 

12. 35-48 39 

12. 39-46 56 

13. 20, 21 186 

16. 2, 3, 4 346 

17. 2 19 

17. 20... 287 

17. 20-37 38, 56 

17. 21 287 

17. 26, 27 69 

17. 26-30. 182 

18. 1-8 190 

18. 7, 8 38 

19. 10 119, 134 

19. 11-28 39 

21 39, 51, 281 

21. 8 17 

21. 8-11 60 

21. 8-19 61 

21. 9 60 

21. 20-24 63, 64, 262 

21. 22-24 261 

21. 24... 68, 116, 172, 324 

21. 25-28 69 

21. 27 78 

21. 28 259 

21. 32 65 

21. 34-36 39, 148, 318 

21. 36 68, 264 

24. 9-11 ... 303 



Luke 

24. 49 120 

24. 50, 51 119 

24. 52, 53 120 

John 

1. 1 107 

1. 17 346 

1. 51 42 

3. 16 165 

5. 24 89 

5. 25 90, 233 

5. 25-29 43 

5. 26 90 

5. 27 90 

5. 28, 29 91, 140, 355 

5. 39 13 

6. 39, 40, 44 254, 355 

7. 17 14 

8. 32 8 

9. 4 157 

10. 28, 29 231 

11. 25, 26 43, 89 

12. 32 191 

13. 23 40 

14. 2, 3 ...42, 128 

14. 3 91 

14. 18 131 

14. 18-20 92 

14. 28 , 42 

16. 12-14 49 

16. 13-15.. 92 

17. 11 164 

17. 24 164, 232 

18. 36 287 

19. 26 40 

20. 2 40 

20. 31 36, 88 

21. 7, 20 40 



362 INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 



John 
21. 22 41, 42 

Acts 

1. 7 16, 112 

1. 8 120 

1. 9 120 

1. 10, 11 119 

1. 11 80 

2. 5 103 

2. 7-21 71 

2. 9, 11 103 

2. 33.. 123 

2. 44, 45 26 

3. 19-21 109 

4. 32-35 26 

7. 56 121 

10. 42.. 84 

15. 12-17 328 

15. 13-18 174 

17. 30, 31 84 

Romans 

2. 5, 16 43 

2. 16.. 84 

5. 18 191 

8. 9 13 

8. 23 259 

11. 15 329 

11. 25-27 172, 326 

12. 5 291 

12. 16 18 

14. 10-12 83 

1st Corinthians 

1. 4-8 43 

1. 8 85,308 

1. 21, 25 9 

2. 13... 10 

4. 5 84 

5. 5 .. 308 



1st Corinthians 

5. 7 187 

7. 25 10 

9. 17 346 

10. 17 291 

11. 26 24, 43 

12. 12 291 

14. 6 280 

15. 17-19.... 33 

15. 23 43, 95, 352 

15. 23 246, 253 

15. 35, 44 246 

15. 24-26.. 96 

15. 51, 52 244 

15. 51-53 353 

15. 51-54 94 

15. 52 254 

15. 57, 58 97 

16. 17 352 

16. 22 43 

2d Corinthians 

1. 14 43, 308 

4. 2 9 

5. 10 83 

I . \}f I*.... ........ OvU 

10. 10 352 

Galatians 

6. 3 18 

Ephesians 

1. 10 346 

1. 23 291 

3. 2 346 

4. 12 , 291 

4. 30 43 

5. 23-27 291 

6. 17... 20 

Phiuppians 

1. 6, 10 308 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 363 



Philippians 

1. 6-10 43 

1. 10 85 

1. 26 352 

2. 12 352 

2. 4-11 81 

2. 7 105 

2. 16 43, 85, 308 

3. 11 43, 93 

3. 20, 21 43, 94 

4. 5 43 

COLOSSIANS 

1. 18 291 

1. 23 102 

1. 25 346 

2. 8 8 

2. 9 50, 107 

2. 19 291 

3. 4 43 

3. 4, 5 29 

3. 15 291 

1st Thessalonians 

1. 10 43, 85 

2. 1-3 108 

2. 19 43, 352 

3. 13 43, 85, 352 

4. 7 258 

4. 13-18.. 43, 95, 245, 353 

4. 15 352 

4. 16 80 

5. 1-10 43 

5. 2 79, 308 

5. 3 314 

5. 20 252 

5. 23 43, 85, 352 

2d Thessalonians 

1. 5-10 345 

1. 7-10 43, 86 



2d Thessalonians 

2. 1 45 

2. 1-3 108 

2. 1, 8 352 

2. 1-8 43 

2. 9 352 

2. 1-10 281, 332 

2. 1-12 176 

2. 2 308 

2. 2, 5 176 

2. 7 261, 264 

2. 8 260, 354 

2. 9 252 

3. 10-13 153 

1st Timothy 

2. 9 9 

2. 14 20 

2. 15 11 

3. 1-5 170 

3. 1-6 334 

3. 13.... 170 

4. 1 43, 84, 334 

Tt. O. ^T • ............ Li i.-i 

4. 6-8 82 

4.8 43 

2d Timothy 

3. 1-6 334 

4. 3, 4 334 

Titus 

2. 11-14 23 

2. 11-15 43 

Hebrews 

1. 3 123 

2. 9, 10 191 

3. 22 123 

4. 14-16 125 

7. 25 125 

9. 24-28 44 



364 INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 



Hebrews 

9. 28.. 24 

10. 22-24 44 

10. 25 44, 148 

10. 35-37 44 

10. 37 109 

James 

5. 7, 8 44, 146, 352 

5. 9 139 

1st Peter 

1. 3 149 

1. 7, 13 44 

1. 8, 9 148 

1. 13 149 

1. 24, 25 9 

3. 22 123 

4. 13 44, 149 

5. 1-4 44, 151 

2d Peter 

1. 16 8, 352 

1. 20, 21 10 

2. 1 17 

3 44 

3. 3, 4 167 

3. 4 28, 352 

3. 8 109, 207, 225 

3. 10 79, 308 

3. 10-13 71 

3. 12 352 

3. 16.. 10 

3. 17, 18 22 

1st John 

2. 1, 2 126 

2. 2 164 

2. 15, 16 165 

2. 18 ,..61, 162 

2. 28 44, 85, 352 



1st John 

3. 2, 3. .44, 87, 235 

3. 8 230 

4. 1 17 

4. 1, 2, 3 62 

5. 4, 5 165 

5. 19 163 

2d John 

7 44 

Jude 

14, 15 44, 87 

Reveiation 

1. 1 221 

1. 3 221 

1. 7.. 44, 79, 95, 248, 354 

1. 11 268 

1. 7, 14 355 

1. 18 132 

2. 7, 10, 17, 26, 28.. 217 

2. 25 44, 149 

3. 2, 3 149 

3. 3 79 

3. 3, 10, 11 44 

3. 5, 12, 21 217 

3. 11 109, 149 

3. 16 334 

3. 21 123 

7. 14 ".. 311 

11. 2, 3 303 

12. 6, 14 303 

13. 5 303 

14. 14-16 ...44, 87 

14. 14-20 345 

16. 14 344 

16. 15 44, 79, 149 

16. 16 303, 316, 344 

19. 11-21.... 222, 224, 345 

20. 1-10 204, 213 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS 365 

Revelation Revelation 

20. 5 233 20. 13-15 253 

20. 6 234 21. 1 71, 284 

20. 8 249, 348 21. 2 236 

20. 9 345 22. 5 284 

20. 11 71 22. 19 243 

20.12-15 87 22.20 44 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



Abomination of Desolation, Apostles' Creed and Second 



62, 63, 263, 312, 313, 
343, 344 

Advance, Signs of, 194-203, 
335-337, 340-342 

Advent, Second. See Sec- 
ond Coming. 

Age, End of the, 67-72, 241, 
302-342 

Allegorical or Figurative 
Passages, how inter- 
preted, 69-72, 218-220, 
277-287 

Antichrist, The, 162, 175- 
181, 239-241, 259, 260 

Antimillennialism, 227, 228, 
351, 352 

Apocalypse, Meaning of, 51 
footnote 

Apocalypse, The, of Saint 
John, 149, 150, 215- 
222 
See Revelation, Book of 

Apocalyptical Discourse of 
Jesus, 50-76, 98, 99- 
101 
Practical Aim of, 54-56 
Compared with Revela- 
tion, 221 

Apocalyptic Writing, Char- 
acter of, 280, 281 

Apostasy, Final, 175-179, 
238-240, 332-340 



Advent, 24 
Armageddon, 241, 303, 344, 

345 
Ascension of Jesus, Pre- 
diction at, 119 
Bible, Right Use of, 8-12, 
255 
Misuse of, 10, 11, 16, 17, 
259, 264, 265, 273, 274, 
315-322 
and Facts of Experience, 

8, 159-161 
Mysteries of, 15-17 
Latest Writings in, 161, 
162 

Body of Christ, Mystical, 
239, 240, 291-293 

Burial Service and Second 
Advent, 25 

Chiliad, Chiliasm, Chiliast, 

345 
Christ, Test of Doctrine, 
12-15, 50, 115-117 

On Manner of Second 
Advent, 77-81 

On Purpose of Second 
Advent, 81-97 

On Time of Second Ad- 
vent, 105-107 

In Heaven, 121-129 



367 



368 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



Reigning in Glory, 122- 
124 

Interceding Above, 125- 
127 

Preparing for Saints, 
127-129 

In the World, 130-135 

Expectations of, 182-191 
Christians, Early, and Sec- 
ond Advent, 25-27, 120, 
121, 192, 193 

Modern, and Second Ad- 
vent, 193, 194 
Church, Better than in 
other days, 197-200 

In Premillennial Sense, 
346 

See Body of Christ. 
Confessions of Faith and 
Second Advent, 25 

Daniel, Book of, 110, 263, 

285, 312-313 
Beasts in, 15 
Day of the Lord, 205, 304- 

309 
Day of Christ, 308, 309 
Death and Second Coming, 

136-140 
First and Second, 233, 

234 
Dispensation, 346, 347 
Dispensational Truth, 347, 

348 
Doctrine, Test of, 12-15 

Elect, Number of, 172-174, 
180, 181, 290, 291 



Facts, to be faced, 8 
Faith, on the Earth at Sec- 
ond Advent, 190, 191 

Gentiles, Times of, 324-329 
Gog and Magog, 348, 349 
Gospel, to be Preached 
Everywhere, 102 

Heaven on Earth, 236 

Interpretation, Principles 
of, 52-59, 218-220 

Israel, Restoration of, 239, 
240, 322-331 

Jerusalem, Destruction of, 

52-54, 59, 62-67, 312, 

313, 324, 325 
Christ's Capital, 240 
And the End of the Age, 

72-76 
Jews. See Israel. 
John, Gospel of, on Second 

Coming, 39-42, 87-95, 

114, 115 
Lateness of, 40, 41 
Judgment, Final, Parable 

of, 183, 252, 253 
Judgments, How Many? 

251, 252 

Kingdom of God, Parables 

of, 184-190 
In Prophecy, 266, 267 
Material, 286-290, 349, 

350 
Spi itual, 286, 287 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



369 



Knowledge, Increase of 
and the End of the 
Age, 318-321 

Last Day, The, 254 

Last Hours, Days, Times, 

162, 163, 341, 342 
Last Things, 51 footnote 
Last Trump, When? 254 
Lawless One, The. See Man 

of Sin 
Leaven, Parable of, 186- 

189 
Literal Interpretation, 243, 

277-285 

Man of Sin, 175-181, 332, 

338 
Millennial Fancies and 

Fallacies, 236-265 
Millennium, The Origin of 
Doctrine, 204-206 
Prophecy and, 205 
Computations of, 207 
Varying Influence of, 

208-210 
Premillennial and Post- 
millennial, 210-212 
Built on one Passage, 

204-212, 214 
Scriptural Basis of, 212- 

216, 350, 351 
Abortive, 248, 249 
Not in Old Testament, 
227, 228, 266, 267 
Missions, Progress of, 200 
Mortals and Immortals, 
247 



Mustard Seed, Parable of, 

189, 190 
Mystery of Iniquity. See 

Man of Sin 

Nature, Dissolution of, 69- 
71, 240, 241, 250, 251 

Noah and Lot, 68, 69, 182, 
183 

Parousia, 352 
Paul, Optimist, 174, 175 
On Events at Second Ad- 
vent, 80, 84, 244, 245 
Peace, Universal, 236, 240, 

266, 315-317 
Perdition, Son of. See Man 

of Sin 
Postmillennialism, 210, 287, 

351 
Predestination, 290 
Premillennialists, 210-212, 
351 
Program of, 238-243 
Differences Among, 237 
Chief Points of, 242 
How Made, 242, 243, 264, 

265 
Make a Third Coming, 

248 
At Odds with the Bible, 

250-256 
And Prophecy, 266-283 
Compared with Postmil- 

lennialists, 287 
May be Disappointed, 

287-290 
Predestination and, 290 



370 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



Bitterness of, 293-295 
Jewish in Spirit, 295-298 
No Effort to Improve the 

World, 298, 299 
Objections to Summar- 
ized, 299, 300 
Prediction in Prophecy, 

268-272 
and Proximity, 272 
Probation, Mixed, 247, 248 
Prophecy, Meaning of, 268- 

272, 352, 353 
Messianic, 272, 273 
And Premillennialism, 

273-286 
Literal Fulfillment of, 

276-286 
Apocalyptic, 280-286 
and Second Advent, 266- 

286 
Not Yet Fulfilled, 276- 

280 
And Premillennialists, 

273-286 
Prophets, Misleading, 17- 

19 
False, 60, 61 

Rapture, The, 239, 246- 
248, 353 
Those Left by, 246, 247 
Reason for Doctrine, 260, 
261 
Resurrection, Physical and 
Spiritual, 89-95 
Of Saints, 239 
Resurrections, How Many? 
252-255, 353 



Retribution and Reward, 

85-87 
Return, Christ's. See Sec- 
ond Coming 
Revelation, Book of, 215- 
222 
Numbers in, 226, 227 
Interpretation of, 218- 

222 
Premillennial Reliance 

in, 212-215 
And Christ's Apocalyptic 

Discourse, 221 
Chapter 20 and other 
Scriptures, 248-257 
"Revelation, The," 240, 258, 
260, 354 

Saints, Reign of, 231, 232 
Resurrection of, 233, 
234 
Satan, Binding of, 225-231 
Release of, 234, 242 
Overthrow of, 234, 242 
Second Coming, Approach 
to Doctrine of, 7-22 
Bible and, 16, 19, 21 
True Place of, 23-49 
Early Christians and, 

25-27, 192, 193 
In Apostles' Creed, 25 
In Burial Service, 25 
In Confessions, 25 
Three Attitudes Toward, 

28-35, 44 
Predictions in the Sy- 
noptics, 35-39 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



371 



In John's Gospel, 39-42, 

87-95 
Paul and Other Apostles 

on, 43-45 
Relative Importance of, 

45-48, 88 
Better Knowledge of To- 
day, 48, 49 
Christ's Apocalyptic 

Prophecy of, 50-76 
Manner of, 77-80, 119 
Purpose of, 81-97 
Judgment at, 82-85 
Retribution at, 85-87 
Resurrection at, 87-89 
Climax of, 95-97 
Time of Uncertain, 98- 

117, 120, 137-139 
Time Unknown to Jesus, 

105, 106 
Time of According to 

Paul, 108 
Those Who Reject, 111 
Distinguished from Other 

Events, 113, 114 
Spiritual Significance of, 

114, 115 
At the Climax of His- 
tory, 115, 117 
Modern Christians and, 

193, 194 
Not in Revelation 19, 

223, 224 
In Revelation 20. 11-15, 

234, 235 
Signs of the Times, 302- 

342 



Talents, Parable of, 101, 

154-156 
Tares, Parable of, 185, 186 
Teachers, Troublesome, 20- 

22 
Teachings, False, 17-19 
Thessalonians, Mistake of, 

about Second Coming, 

153 
Comforted by Paul's 

Teaching of Second 

Advent, 244, 245 
Travel and End of the Age, 

318-322 
Tribulation, The, 69, 239, 

258-262, 354 
Saints, 239, 355 
Reason for the Doctrine 

of, 263, 264, 310-316 

Virgins, Parable of, 101, 
154 

War and Millennial Falla- 
cies, 303, 304, 310-318 
War and Christianity, 196, 

197, 203, 341, 342 
Watchfulness Enjoined, 
136-159 
Time but one Element 

of, 141-143 
Patience in, 145, 146 
In Personal Life, 146-149 
In Christian Service, 

150-155 
In Gethsemane, 155, 156 
Wesley, John, and Premil- 
lennialism, 197-199 



372 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



On Mystery of Iniquity, 

335, 336 
World, the, Christ in Now, 

129-135, 143-145 
Is it Growing Worse? 

158-203, 238, 332-342 
Facts About, and the 

Bible, 159-161 
As John Saw It, 163-166 
New Testament Mean- 
ings of the Word, 164- 

166 
As Seen by Peter, 167, 

168 



As Seen by Paul, 168- 

180 
To-day and Yesterday, 

171-175 
Christ's Expectations of, 

182-190 
Faith in, When Son of 

Man Comes, 190, 191 
Getting Better, 194-203, 

341, 342 
Dream of Humanity for, 

204, 205, 266 
To be Redeemed, 301, 302 



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